Saturday Lite : Agong Is Not "Resting Following Treatment Lah" ! He Went To Moscow To Marry A Russian Beauty Queen.

I suppose everyone is aware of the Moscow wedding where our Agong has married a Russian girl  - the winner of Miss Moscow 2015 so it has been reported.  The story and the pictures have gone viral since yesterday.

Firstly congratulations are due to the newly weds. 

May they have a long and happy life together.

But somehow the mainstream media is fluttering between talking about it or being embarrassed about the news. They dont seem to know where to go. 

First the Online New Straits Times carried the story :

Then the story got pulled :  

 Requested page could not be found ??

Earlier on November 2nd, the official line from Bernama  was that  the Agong was 

"resting following treatment during that period".

Here is the Bernama story published in The Star : 

KL (Bernama): Sultan Nazrin will exercise functions of Agong Nov 2 - Dec 31

in absence of Agong who will be resting following treatment during that period

Read more here. 

What resting? 

What treatment? 

The Agong was in Moscow lah, getting married. 

This is Malaysia Baru. 

Why not just tell the rakyat that the YDP Agong was off to Moscow to get married? 

Why not just be upfront that the Agong is marrying a Russian girl or whatever? 

Apa salahnya? 

Yes indeed a marriage is a private matter but certainly the Agong is the constitutional monarch of our country. 

The question now is do we have a brand new Raja Permaisuri Agong? 

Do we have a new queen? 

Or is that a "private matter" as well?  Or sensitive ?

Everything becomes sensitive, sensitive, sensitive. 

Here are some of the viral pictures, a short video and some text about the wedding :

November 22, in Moscow, P. Barvikha, “BARVIKHA CONCERT HALL”, took place the wedding of the Supreme Ruler (KING) of Malaysia, Sultan Muhammad V Faris.

Sultan Muhamad V Faris chose Russian woman Oksana Voevodina, the winner of the contest “Miss Moscow -2015”, as his wife.

The wedding took place according to Russian custom, but with elements of a Malaysian wedding. By tradition, the wedding ceremony in Malaysia is held in national costumes and on a special platform. This is a special wooden arbor, beautifully decorated with flowers. The groom went out to the public in the Malaysian national dress and the bride was in Russian dress, and the wedding was non-alcoholic and halal food.

Above : Oksana Voevodina “Miss Moscow -2015

One cannot help noticing that the Royal Houses of Johor, Selangor, Perak and now Kelantan have married Western women or women with Western parentage. Pahang has married a Pakistani woman. The previous Royal House of Negeri Sembilan has Indian parentage. The Rajah of Sarawak has married a Lebanese woman.  

If you ask my opinion this is a good thing. The Royal Houses still exemplify all that is Malay. They are the repositories of Malay culture and traditions.  Mixed marriage in the Royal households shows that the Royals are not "anti ICERD".  They are prone to be more 'cosmopolitan'.  

That is a good thing.