Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The new king of Malaysia officially assumed the throne Thursday, after the death last month of the incumbent king and an unusual election to replace him.
Syed Sirajuddin Ibni Almarhum Syed Putra Jamalullail took his oath of office and was sworn in as Malaysia’s 12th monarch.
In Malaysia, the title of king is not handed down along family lines but is shared among sultans from nine states, who each take a turn as monarch for five years.
On Wednesday, the nine sultans held a Conference of Rulers to cast secret ballots and elect a successor to Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, who died in office on Nov. 21 after complications from heart surgery.
The sultans elected Syed Sirajuddin, the sultan of Malaysia’s smallest state, Perlis. Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu state was elected as his deputy.
The rotational system was introduced toward the end of British colonial rule in 1957. Before colonization, rajahs had ruled over fiefdoms on the Malay peninsula for hundreds of years.
The king’s role is largely ceremonial, but for ethnic Malay Muslims, who make up about 60 percent of Malaysia’s 23 million people, the king is the supreme upholder of Malay tradition and the symbolic head of Islam — a legacy that dates back to the early 15th century.
Associated Press
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