The Conference of Rulers has called for a special meeting on Friday (Oct 27) to elect the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The meeting will take place at Istana Negara at 10am, where nine Malay Rulers will cast their votes to choose a new Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The reason for this special meeting is that the reign of Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong will come to an end on Jan 30 next year. Sultan Abdullah assumed the federal throne on Jan 31, 2019, after being elected at the Conference of Rulers’ special meeting on Jan 24 of the same year.
As per Section 2, Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the Federal Constitution, the Conference of Rulers must offer the office of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to the qualified Ruler whose state is first on the election list. If that Ruler declines the offer, the Conference of Rulers can offer it to the Ruler of the next state on the list, and so on until an offer is accepted.
The election of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is based on a rotation system agreed upon by all nine Malay Rulers. The first cycle of the rotation, from 1957 to 1994, saw Negri Sembilan at the top of the election list, followed by Selangor, Perlis, Terengganu, Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, Johor, and Perak.
Malaysia is one of the 43 countries in the world that practices constitutional monarchy and the only country that implements a rotation system among its nine Malay rulers. – Bernama
