ABSTRACT
At the end of the discussion of monarchy in Malaysia, in Chapter 3, we met cases of increasing assertiveness on the part of some of the Sultans (the rulers of the nine Malay States of the Peninsula). This was in the period following the passing of special laws to strengthen Malay rights, from which the Sultans benefited, as ‘protectors’ of the Malays who themselves needed protection. Part of the special interest of the monarchical politics of Malaysia lies in the fact that a traditional institution, kept in being essentially for passive legitimization, has shown a capacity for strengthening its role and even posing challenges to the more modern political sector which it is supposed to serve. This has occurred despite the federalistic fragmentation of the institution, the absence of any significant, special powers vested in the Supreme Ruler (Yang di-Pertuan Agong), and the rotating incumbency of this central office. The capacity for challenge, like the legal strengthening which preceded it, is closely connected with the fact that the legitimization which the Malay monarchy has served relates to a system of ‘universal corporate ranking’ in a plural society. This function enables the monarchy to appeal to a powerful, ethnic vested interest in support of its own perpetuation.
