The Royal Institution: Roles and Challenges

Malaysia, our country, our home and our place, is one of the most diversely and densely

populated countries in the whole of Southeast Asia. Malaysia is well known in the eyes of the

world as a waterfall of people which originates from different background, ethnicities, religions,

races, believes and customs. However, these people still live together merrily, harmoniously and

practices democracy all the time.

Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy, with a federal constitutional monarchy, whereby

the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as the head of state. What is a constitutional monarchy? The

constitutional monarchy actually is a form of monarchy whereby the sovereign exercises his or

her authorities in accordance to constitution which can be either written or unwritten, In

Malaysia, the constitution is known as the “Perlembagaan”, which are the most powerful written

laws or regulations in Malaysia. In other words, the constitutional monarchy is a system which

limits the power of possessed by the authorities. To put it in another way, the constitution act as a

guideline in the administration of the nation. Any single change or innovation in the nation must

strictly obey the constitution. On the other hand, constitutional monarchy can strengthen

sovereignty of a nation in great details. In conjunction with the age of the administrative

modernization, constitutional monarchy becomes one of the most imperative elements to make

sure of the development of the nation. Hence, it is not peculiar to say that constitutional

monarchy symbolizes a nation from the aspects of administration.

 Malaysia’s administration is divided into two groups, which are the Prime Minister’s

office, and the Malay Sultanate, which originates from the Malaccan Empire about 600 years ago.

The Royal Institution of Malaysia consists of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who is the head of

state of Malaysia, and also the other Malay male rulers in the other states in Malaysia. The Yang

di-Pertuan Agong will be formally elected to a five-year term by and from the nine rulers of

the Malay states who form the Conference of Rulers, also known as the Majlis Raja-raja in

Bahasa Melayu. Since this post is not permanent, after his term expires, the Conference of Rulers

holds another new election to elect a new Yang di-Pertuan Agong in which the incumbent would

not be re-elected. In addition to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, there is a Timbalan Yang di-Pertuan

Agong who acts on behalf of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong if the monarch is unable to exercise his

functions due to illness or absence.

According to the Malaysia’s constitutional monarchy, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has a

boundless power in many occasions. He has the power to exercise on the advice given by the

Prime Minister who he himself elected, any other Minister, the cabinet, the Conference of Rulers,

or some other officer or institutions, or his own discretion. He is the only one who displayed

great intellectual depth and sinew to elect the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who will command

the confidence of a majority of the elected lower house of the parliament, also known as the

Dewan Rakyat. Since the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is the highest ranking officer in the military

chain of command, he surely has the power over the Arm Forces in Malaysia such as the army,

the air force, and the navy. Furthermore, he possesses his role to appoint and remove public

servants, members of constitutional commissions and other special offices under the constitution.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong also has the supreme power to approve certain bills, which is
provided by the Ministers in the country and to pass a certain law in the Federal Court. All of

these above show that it is actually the Prime Minister carries out his orders on behalf of him.

Most importantly, he has the power to proclaim a state of emergency. When the Yang di-Pertuan

Agong declares emergency in the country, the whole country will be totally locked down,

preventing any further widespread of danger. Why do we say that he doesn’t have the power to

lead the country? This is because of the Federation in Malaysia. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is

the head of state but not the head of government. He reigns but he does not rule the country

himself. It is stated clearly in the Federal Constitution that he does not have the full power to

lead the country and it is the Prime Minister’s duty and responsibility to carry out, to be in that

position to lead the country. At the end, even though he does not have the power to conquer over

the whole country, but he actually still has power and he is one of the most important characters

to role the country.

Even though Malaysia is well known for its diversity in races and religion and people

living harmoniously among each other, there are still some challenges which are faced by the

leaders of Malaysia in order to maintain the stability of the country and also the economic value

in the market. In order to maintain the stability and accountability of the country’s economic

progress and also to maintain the country’s dignity, the leaders of Malaysia must take many steps

and precautions to ensure that this matter is properly and scrupulously handled and is not

handling in a horribly sloppy way.

 Undeniably, the Royal Institution plays a big role to ensure a proper governance of the

government. In spite of this, at the zenith of modernization, the institution gradually loses its real

value to the nation. This is indeed a sad phenomenon and turns up to become a stumbling block

to achieve the Vision 2020. One of the challenges to achieve this goal is the globalization that

occurs rapidly in the world. There are more and more “netizens” in our country and they are

deeply brainwashed and expose their dreadful ideas that will deeply slander and insult the Royal

Institution. The Internet has turned to become too ubiquitous nowadays. The Royal Institution

always becomes a target of some irresponsible urbanites because they want to set off a

pandemonium in the country to cause a lot of troubles, chaos, and to prevent the citizens to unite.

This slowly invades the thoughts of other citizens and the image of the Royal Institution as the

sign of sovereignty is badly distorted. To strongly tackle this problem, the authorities, especially

the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia had to draw the first blood and endeavor to

block those certain websites which deliberately disparages the Royal Institution. However, the

ICT knowledge today is way too advanced and they battle against the authorities to achieve their

goals. Hence, the first challenge we all have to overcome to maintain the good image of the

Royal Institution is the globalization of the world.

Besides that, the citizens’ negative attitude towards the constitutional monarchy is one of

the crucial challenges the Royal Institution is facing. They do not realize the importance of

constitutional monarchy towards the society and their nation. In the pursuit of their materialistic

enjoyment, they ignore their responsibilities as a citizen of their own country. So a huge gap is

formed immediately between the people with the constitutional monarchy. Things take a turn to

make it even worse, some political organization even use the constitution as a gimmick to reach
their goals and desire without considering the consequences left towards the society and nation.

If the constitution is not respected by the country’s own citizen, how can the constitutional

monarchy being well maintained? This indicates that a clear understanding about the

constitutional monarchy of their own country can act as a deterrent to overcome the challenges.

In this regard, the Ministry of Education, has introduced the concept of constitutional monarchy

in the syllabus of Integrated Curriculum for Secondary School through subjects like History,

Education of Civic and Citizenship and so on. These subjects expose the students to the basic

ideas of the constitutional monarchy. Since education is the most powerful tool to mould

thoughts from the students who grasp the fate of the nation in the future, this is a practical way to

maintain a stable constitutional monarchy.

Furthermore, there are also some people who firmly stand on their ground that the Royal

Institution is no longer applicable and relevant to the country. This is because the amount of

money spend on them is just staggeringly inconceivable. The citizens of the country are getting

fumed, downhearted and grief-stricken because the taxes they paid to the government by using

their hard-earned money were not spent in a reasonable and more sensible way. They received

quite a hefty amount of money from the State of Government, to contend and meliorate their

palatial lifestyle, packed with plenty of hobbies and extravagant holidays. They also spent a lot

to conserve and maintain their imperial palace, other baronial mansions and residence.

The Royal Institution, as a symbol of unity and catalyst for nationalism, is still relevant in

this country which has a variety of political affiliations and people of diverse socio-economic
background. The royal institution was even more needed when the country faced various threats

through globalization and the western template of democracy, which had resulted in a clash of

national identity. The constitutional monarchy acts as a unifying mechanism in a landscape of

diverse cultures and religions, protecting the prosperity and security of the country. The unique

condition of our country is such that it also requires a neutral supreme institution, such as the

Royal Institution, that can reprimand, advice and share its viewpoint. If such an institution is

absent, unity, patriotism and loyalty to the country will also erode. When the harmony, unity and

the well-being of the people were under the threat, the rulers must use their sovereign power to

find out the solutions to maintain the peacefulness of the country. For example, during the 2008

general election in Malaysia, the constitutional disputes over the appointments of the Menteri

Besar for Perlis, Perak, Selangor and Terengganu were resolved through the wisdom of their

rulers.

“Digarhayu Tuanku” is a good adage to follow in a bid to maintain the Royal Institution

in our nation. As a Malaysian, we should always respect our Royal Institution and the constitute

monarchy and pick up the baton to build a stable nation, which can stand firmly in the face of

adversity and other challenges that come like rolling stones. I hope that this essay can reverberate

deeply in the hearts of all Malaysians and become a beacon to maintain the stability of our own

country, which in turn making Malaysia to become a more peaceful country to live. We are

Malaysians!