A royal gesture of great panache

 

By Terence Netto

Recent days have seen the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, obey one of those fortunate inspirations in which the heart unites with the mind in delivering a gesture of striking panache.

The home visit paid by Sultan Abdullah and Raja Permaisuri Agong, Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah to commoner Kamala Das to congratulate the latter on attaining her centenary was an ordinary gesture but it had a panache that evoked the best of the gestures of his father, Sultan Ahmad Shah, during the years of his kingship between 1979 and 1984.

Anyone old enough to remember those public gestures of the late Sultan Ahmad Shah, who died in 2017, will agree that the fabulous is never anything but the commonplace touched by the hand of the inspired.

Sultan Ahmad Shah’s reign as King was notable for those public gestures – his transparent delight at a national sports performer’s excellence in competition, and on another occasion, his evident pleasure when dancing with his wife at a public function (an act now considered taboo) – were demonstrations that united royal and commoner in appreciation of the eternal verities.

His son, Abdullah, started his reign in 2019 by signalling that he intended to take a leaf off his father’s book on how to display the common touch by visiting a valued former teacher at his current location in a school.

That gesture was reminiscent of his father’s invitation to a former soccer teammate of his (a taxi driver) to a social occasion at the palace during which the King fraternised with him.

Royals endowed with the common touch, as one might say in witnessing the two occasions.

Most Malaysians are restricted to appreciating their royals only on ceremonial occasions where the observance of protocol necessarily prevents familiarity.

They seldom have the opportunity for an interface that could show the monarchy as regal and, yet, accessible.

Sultan Abdullah and Tunku Azizah’s visit to Kamala Das and her abundant family, the obvious joys it evoked, was as ingratiating as home cooking.

The gesture comes at a time when the institution of the monarchy is increasingly being perceived as a bulwark against the racial and religious divisions rabid politicians are fomenting to achieve narrow electoral ends.

In some parts of the world, tottering monarchies have fallen into disrepute from overindulgent lifestyles and other excesses, whilst among its subjects a growing egalitarianism seeks to project the institution as no longer fiscally supportable.

Here in Malaysia, the monarchy is moving the other way, as an institution the polity has to preserve to forestall theocracy and maintain racial and religious harmony.

Malaysians ought to be glad that our reigning couple knows a thing or two about how to go about their roles of preservation and protection.

It’s enough to make a monarchist out of an egalitarian. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.