Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan ruler orders chief minister out of sight in rare public rebuke

A Malaysian ruler known for being reserved has publicly berated his chief minister over efforts to unseat him, telling the politician to “go away” and withdraw his claim that the monarch no longer holds the throne.

Negeri Sembilan, south of Kuala Lumpur, has been caught in a dispute since April over who is its rightful ruler, bringing down one state government aligned with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and leaving its newly appointed chief minister without a state executive council.

In a video circulating online on Friday, Negeri Sembilan ruler Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir confronts Chief Minister Ismail Lasim over a letter he says endorsed his removal and was sent to the official overseeing Malaysia’s royal council.

He told Ismail not to come and see him again unless he retracted the letter.

“Ismail Lasim wrote to the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal saying that the decision he made with the executive council was valid and that I am no longer the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan,” Muhriz says, using his royal title.

“So why come and see me? Until he retracts what he said, don’t come and see me. Go away. Don’t see me. I don’t want to see you. Understand?” the ruler said.

The rebuke is a striking departure for a monarch known for his reserved manner and preference for keeping a low profile.

Dressed in pink traditional Malay attire, Muhriz addresses Ismail as attendants and onlookers stand nearby. The chief minister, in blue, is seen raising his joined palms towards the ruler in a gesture of respect.

The feud centres on an attempt to replace Muhriz with another royal, Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja’afar. Four territorial chiefs issued a proclamation in April seeking to remove him over allegations that he had breached his royal duties, but federal legal authorities said there was no evidence that he met the constitutional grounds for removal.

Unlike the other monarchies in Malaysia that decide succession by birthright, Negeri Sembilan’s ruler is elected by four chieftains, known as undangs.

Ismail, an Umno politician sworn into office before Muhriz in August, has given conflicting accounts of his role.

On September 9, he said he had signed the proclamation under duress, lodged a police report and maintained that the document was invalid.

Eight days later, he confirmed that his executive council had unanimously backed it and instructed the state secretary to proceed with its formal publication.

Local media, citing the state opposition PH, reported that Ismail also wrote to the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal on September 17 asking that Malaysia’s rulers be informed of Muhriz’s removal and Nadzaruddin’s selection as his replacement.

The Attorney General’s Chambers said on September 17 that the chief minister and his council had no unilateral power to remove the ruler and that the proclamation failed to meet constitutional requirements.

Muhriz dismissed all 10 executive councillors on September 20, leaving Ismail in office.

The crisis prompted the Conference of Rulers – which comprises the heads of Malaysia’s nine royal households, including from Negeri Sembilan – on Wednesday to call for restraint and for the competing sides to find a “dignified solution” that would not undermine the state monarchy.

Online, some viewers said they had never seen Muhriz so angry, while others mocked the chief minister’s public dressing-down.

“If I were Tok Mail, where would I hide my face?” one commenter wrote, using a familiar name for Ismail. Another joked that the chief minister had “turned into a meowing cat”.