Tunku Sallehuddin to be proclaimed new Kedah sultan

MB's office says proclamation to be made at Istana Anak Bukit at 1pm Tuesday.

GEORGE TOWN: The Raja Muda (crown prince) of Kedah, Tunku Mahmud Sallehuddin Sultan Badlishah will be proclaimed the 28th Sultan of Kedah today.

According to a short statement from the Kedah menteri besar’s office, he will be proclaimed sultan at about 1pm today at Istana Anak Bukit.

Kedah MB Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah will read out the proclamation.

The pre-burial rituals will begin at the istana with the late Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah first going through the bathing ritual called “istiadat bersiram” at 8am.

His body will be wrapped in a shroud and sprinkled with flowers and sandalwood at 9.30am.

At 10.30am, a special funeral prayer will be held for the late ruler.

He will then lie in state from 11am to 12.30pm for the members of the public to pay their last respects. This will be followed by VIPs.

After the new Kedah sultan is proclaimed, Sultan Abdul Halim will be brought out of the palace for burial at 2pm.

At this point, the cannons on the grounds of the palace will fire 89 times, to denote the age of the late sultan.

It is learnt that the royal family will be in a period of mourning for 40 days from this day on.

The Kedah government has declared a seven-day mourning period, with flags to be flown at half-mast for three days from Monday.

Sultan Abdul Halim will be buried at the Langgar Royal Mausoleum at 4pm, followed by tahlil prayers and doa selamat thereafter.

Tunku Sallehuddin, 75, is Sultan Abdul Halim’s younger brother. Tunku Sallehuddin is the ninth of 14 children of the late Sultan Badlishah Abdul Hamid Halim Shah.

Sultan Abdul Halim was the second eldest.

Tunku Sallehuddin was born in Alor Setar, Kedah, on April 30, 1942. He is married to Tengku Maliha Tengku Ariff. They have two sons, Tunku Sarafuddin and Tunku Shazuddin.

Tunku Sallehuddin is a true-blue military man. He underwent cadet training at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, for a year in 1962.

He was commissioned as a lieutenant of the 12th Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment in Pengkalan Chepa, Kota Baru, Kelantan, in 1964.

According to a Bernama report, Tunku Sallehuddin was involved in border security operations at the Kelantan, Kedah and Perak borders with Thailand.

Bernama had also reported that Tunku Sallehuddin is the chancellor of Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences and president of the Kedah Islamic Religious Council. -FMT