Self-styled Sulu Sultan names Phugdal to be Raja Muda

(Seated from left) Rajah Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, Sultan Jalul Kiram III, Sultan Bantilan Esmail Kiram II. (Standing from left) Datu Alianapia Kiram, Datu Phugdal Kiram and Datu Baduruddin Kiram.

PETALING JAYA: The self-styled Sulu Sultan Esmail Kiram II has proclaimed that his younger brother Datu Phugdal Kiram will be the next Raja Muda (crown prince) of the so-called Sulu Sultanate.

Esmail told the Star Online on Tuesday that Phugdal, 68, was chosen because of the Sultanate's law of succession and that to be a candidate one had to be a direct descendant of Sultan Sharif ul-Hashim, the first Sulu Sultan.