Kelantan accepts Sultan Muhammad V’s decision to step down as King, says state MB

TUMPAT (Bernama): The Kelantan government accepts the decision of the Sultan of Kelantan, Sultan Muhammad V, to step down as the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob said on Sunday (Jan 6).

Ahmad also said that up to this evening, the state government had not received any official notification from Istana Negara on the matter.

“As the menteri besar, I just received informal information on the matter tonight. We accept the decision, as it is His Majesty's right,” he said when met after a Maghrib lecture at the Al-Hidayah Mosque, Kampung Laut, here.

Ahmad said a meeting would be held with state secretary Datuk Nazran Muhammad and the Protocol Unit of the State Secretariat on the next course of action.

He said His Majesty did not mention the matter when he returned to Kelantan to perform the Friday prayers at the Sultan Ismail Petra Mosque in Kubang Kerian two days ago.

“His Majesty conducted himself as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (when he returned here on Friday) but ‘wallahua'lam' (Allah knows better) what happened (afterward),” he said.

Sultan Muhammad V was installed as the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong on April 24, 2017, after taking his oath of office on Dec 13, 2016.

His Majesty succeeded the Sultan of Kedah, Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah, whose term as the 14th Yang di-Pertuan Agong ended on Dec 12, 2016.

Malaysia's constitutional monarchy system provides for the election of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong from among the nine Malay Rulers on a rotational basis for a reign of five years.

Sultan Muhammad V is the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong to step down. - Bernama