It is not customary for me in my 30-year career as an academic and in my 61 years as a Malaysian to write a tribute to a royalty.

In my life, whether as a Malaysian, a Malay or an academic, I do not have much personal or private contact with any royalty.

In my entire academic life, I have avoided being appointed to a high administrative post simply because of my zeal to write books and become a referred public intellectual.

Being in an administrative post would involve too much politicking and too many parties with the high-up and that would include royalty.

Not for me. I can’t stand too much ceremony. I am most at ease in my sarong writing books and articles, giving talks at public functions and meeting Malaysians of all cultures, faiths and status, and also inspiring my students one by one to understand reality in a critical manner and to never accept any social, religious or political tradition without dismantling them and asking the hard questions.

So, writing tributes to royalty is not something I would give any thought from my precious time.

Growing up, royalty was something far off in my life. Royalty, like the Agong or the Sultan, are mere faces on television during important historical and religious celebrations. I do not feel any attachment to any royalty even until my adulthood.

The royalty to me was an unnecessary burden of history; a historical baggage that we all must endure.

When I began to be indoctrinated with the ideas and ideology of the Islamic Reform movement in the US during my studies, the royalty presented a hindrance to the idea of a just society.

Leadership in humanity must go to those who are righteous, just and who are close to God, not to those who inherit power.

That was my stand and royalty was never an entity that I would ever be close to or would have anything to do with.

The Umno slogan of defending royalty and the Malays are hollow calls of expediency and a feudalistic mindset against the just approach of the Islamic Reformation sweeping the world.

The Iranian Revolution fired this inspiration of a republic without inherited leadership from any historical or racial tradition.

Islam is race-less and does not hold to any tradition against the teaching of the Sunnah or the Way of the Prophet Muhammad.

When Dr. Mahathir went on his Semarak campaign against the terrible doings of the royalty, I was not in Malaysia.

I wished that I was there to support him after stories of indulgences and crimes of royalty were smeared all over the front pages of Malay newspapers.

Only Dr. Mahathir dared to be the hulubalang Melayu who would stand toe-to-toe with those born of historical tradition.

Dr. M was my hero then in his fight against royalty in order to save democracy and the dignity of rakyat.

I did not know that Dr. M was actually fighting to be his own “royalty” of the untouchable prime minister with his untouchable warriors in Umno.

Such was my position on the royalty in Malaysia, an unnecessary baggage of history.

But Sultan Abdullah changed my perspective of the honorable role of the royalty in a democratic Malaysia.

This realization came when I was no longer too engrossed in the ideals of the Islamic Reform movement.

The Islamic Reform movement had shown its true color in PAS championing racism and condoning corruption as well as practicing extremist ideas against the dignity of the Constitution and Rukunegara.

My faith in Malay politicians had been destroyed by Dr. Mahathir in his sacking of Anwar, and the 1MDB fiasco also showed Malay leaders to be corrupt and worse than the Semarak trials by public outcry against the indulgences of the royalty.

Sultan Abdullah showed what true royalty was meant to achieve during his reign since the Sheraton Move of 2020.

He showed his wisdom of handling the destruction of the PH rule by Dr. M and Azmin Ali as the traitor most remembered by Malaysians.

Even though we the rakyat would disagree with the appointment of Mahiaddin as the PM, the Sultan had exercised his best judgment in asking all the MPs to declare their choices in front of him rather than the paper statutory declaration.

Mahiaddin was then supposed to test his premiership in Parliament but he had shown that he was a master “liar” of the highest class in appointing the Speaker and declaring a one “stupid” day of Parliament seating.

I do not think that the YDP Agong would agree to this style of leadership, but once a PM has been installed, the Agong can only advise.

Then came the two Emergency requests.

Sultan Abdullah rejected the first request and that was the day I truly saw the power of the royalty over and above the pettiness of elected politicians.

On that day, I felt ashamed to be an ordinary rakyat because the politicians were trying to do something undignified and an outright lie but the Agong put them in their place.

However, in the second Emergency request, the Agong had to decide in favor, as this time he was presented questionable data and recommendations by spineless civil servants as well as coward politicians who had already lost their majority in Parliament.

I was angry and frustrated at that time because the Emergency virtually took out any dignity left in a citizen of a democracy.

It was okay to declare an Emergency under threat of war or a natural disaster, but not okay at all just because the PM had lost his majority and a spineless Speaker Azhar Harun doing his bidding.

The Sultan had ordered Mahiaddin and Perikatan Nasional to table the Emergency in parliament but that was totally ignored by Takiyuddin, Mahiaddin and Hadi Awang until the day that suddenly the Emergency was declared null and void! Wah, itu macam sajakah? Main-main dengan the most serious declaration of usurping the rights of citizens in a country.

But of course, the most sterling act of Sultan Abdullah that will carry to my grave is the act of forming an unexpected alliance in the Unity Government and the appointment of Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia.

I was already in despair the morning after the election when Mahiaddin and Hadi Awang were seen with Abang Johari, and claiming to have SDs from 10 MPs from Umno and MCA.

Yes, we know who those people are. But the Agong dismissed Mahiaddin’s SDs simply because the anti-hopping law was already in force.

Mahiaddin and Hadi, I wonder, tahu atau tidak that their SDs tak laku. I think they knew but don’t care.

These are the types of PN leaders that we have. Leaders who do not care about laws and even the dignity of listening to the Agong when asked nicely for PN and PH to unite to save Malaysia.

I will never forget the way the Agong expertly called the GPS and GRS people as well as Umno to form a Unity Government.

Finally, Sultan Abdullah called on all his brother Sultans to ask their blessings in appointing Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th PM.

When it was announced, I performed the sujud syukur next to my writing desk and commenced writing my article Thank you, Tuanku.

My sujud syukur was not just because it was the end of 22 agonizing years of Reformasi and the appointment of Anwar Ibrahim as the PM, but it was also for the thought and blessings that we have a royalty that sat above the petty shenanigans of ordinary rakyat who were elected to be MPs in the sacred halls of Parliament.

My trust in the royal institution now has a new meaning and the bar set by Sultan Abdullah when his reign ends will be the one I will hold other Yang di-Pertuan Agong after this.

Thus, on the celebration of His Majesty’s birthday, I wish my King, Sultan Abdullah, a life blessed by Allah till the day of our reckoning with Him.

Daulat Tuanku….

(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)