The Johor Sultan is truly people-friendly

Writer: Jin Ding

Guang Ming, Feb 13, 2016

Sultan Ibrahim of Johor took his royal entourage to the house of Dato Tee Siew Keong, Johor executive councilor in charge of tourism, trade and consumer affairs, on the first day of Chinese New Year. His highness even offered his New Year greeting in Mandarin. That was really a rare gesture and his goodwill and friendliness have been very much appreciated. It is also something that Malaysians can be proud of.

In fact, it is common knowledge that the Sultan has been very close to his people. Recently, the Sultan, with over a thousand supporters, took a four-day journey called Kembara Mahkota on his Harley Davidson to forge a closer bond with his people. The journey started from Laman di-raja Pontian.

It is understood that the annual tour began even when Sultan Ibrahim was the Raja Muda and it has been organized for the last 15 years. The Sultan will visit 10 districts in the state using different modes of vehicle. It has been the talk of the town. Not only that, the Sultan was seen at hawker stalls in the company of his rakyat; eating, joking and taking pictures with them, even picking up their bills.

The Sultan has treated all races equally and fairly and rejected any form of racism. When the racial incidents happened in Kuala Lumpur recently, the Sultan condemned it and asked racists to stay out of Johor.

According to reports, the former Sultan also loved his people. When the May 13 racial riots broke out in Kuala Lumpur, the Sultan deployed his army to protect the Chinese and thereby, prevented the disturbances from spreading to Johor.

The present Sultan has high respect of the languages used by different communities. According to Dato Tee, the Sultan allowed congratulatory banners and advertisements in Chinese during his coronation. However, he also hoped these banners and greetings can be bilingual, using both Chinese and Bahasa, so that he could understand who and which organization put up the greetings or advertisements.

It is fortunate that Raja Muda Tunku Ismail takes after his father in his close relationship with the people. This is Malaysia’s fortune, especially for Johoreans. Tunku Ismail regularly offers his excellent views and timely advice on his blog. He tells people not to be fearful of the extremists. He said rightly that the Palace is above politics and it does not need to gain favour from anybody because it does not worry about losing votes.

It is true that many leaders have lost their true selves. They dare not take a different view because they are afraid of losing votes or losing their positions. From this angle, the monarchy has proven its worth, especially the Palace of Johor. They are a good example. Daulat Tuanku!!