A timeline of the Negeri Sembilan throne crisis, from the Sungai Ujong dispute to today

SEREMBAN: Today's decision by the state executive council to recognise Tuanku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja'afar as the Yang di-Pertuan Besar is the latest turn in a dispute that has run since April.

At its heart the argument is not only about who sits on the throne, but about who is entitled to sit as one of the Undang Yang Empat. Under adat perpatih and the Laws of the Constitution of Negeri Sembilan 1959, only those four territorial chiefs may elect and remove the Yang di-Pertuan Besar. Once the standing of some of them is itself in question, everything they do is open to the same challenge.

Here is how the main events unfolded.

Background

The office of Undang of Sungai Ujong had been contested for years before the crisis broke, with more than one figure claiming to hold it. The Dewan Keadilan dan Undang, or DKU, later found that Maarof Mat Rashad had been stripped of the Jelebu chieftainship by lineage elders on May 31, 2023 for breaching customary law.

2026

April 17. The DKU sat with Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir presiding and accepted the removal of Datuk Mubarak Dohak as Undang of Sungai Ujong on 33 grounds of breaching adat. Under Article 16(3) of the state constitution, DKU determinations on adat are final and cannot be challenged in court.

April 19. Mubarak and three other undangs made a proclamation at Balai Undang Luak Sungai Ujong, streamed live, removing Tuanku Muhriz from the throne and naming Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja'afar as his successor. The Telaga Undang, Sarifah Norzaidah Al-Qadri, denied giving Mubarak any mandate to do so.

April 20. The menteri besar at the time, Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun, rejected the proclamation and said Mubarak no longer held authority as an undang. Police warned against spreading 3R-sensitive content.

April 23. The Undang Yang Empat boycotted the opening of the state assembly.

April 27. All 14 Umno assemblymen withdrew support for Aminuddin over what they called his mishandling of the palace crisis, cutting the state government from 31 to 17 seats in a 36-seat assembly. Umno's leadership later backed away from that position and kept the party in the state government.

May 5. Mubarak and five others filed suit at the Seremban High Court seeking a copy of the minutes of the April 17 DKU meeting and an order halting enforcement of its decisions. The other plaintiffs included three undangs, those of Jelebu, Johol and Rembau, the Tunku Besar of Tampin, Tunku Syed Razman Syed Idrus Al-Qadri, and the Syahbandar of Sungai Ujong, Baharudin Abdul Khalid. The defendants were DKU secretary Raja Norazli Raja Nordin, the DKU and the state government.

May. Rival claimants emerged for the Sungai Ujong chieftainship, and the standing of the Undang of Rembau was also questioned on grounds of defective adat.

May 29. Six DKU members voted to suspend Raja Norazli as secretary. He maintained that only the Yang di-Pertuan Besar could remove him.

June 4. Aminuddin announced the dissolution of the state assembly, which took effect the following day.

June 5. The Seremban High Court, before Judge Roz Mawar Rozain, granted an ad interim injunction restraining the DKU from convening, making decisions or taking any action, in a suit filed by Raja Norazli. The order stands until the court determines the questions of jurisdiction and justiciability, or until further order.

July 31. The DKU ruled the April 19 proclamation unconstitutional, null and void. It found that three of the four undangs involved had no valid customary standing at the time, namely Mubarak, who had already been removed, Abdul Rahim Yasin of Rembau, who had never been installed according to adat, and Maarof Mat Rashad of Jelebu. The ruling was announced a day later.

August 1. The state election was held. Barisan Nasional won 18 seats and Perikatan Nasional seven, giving the two a two-thirds majority in the 36-seat assembly.

August 2. Datuk Ismail Lasim was sworn in as menteri besar in the Throne Room of Istana Besar Seri Menanti, before Tuanku Muhriz.

August 3. A group of customary leaders later claimed that Ismail signed the proclamation removing Tuanku Muhriz on this date at Istana Laguna Biru in Port Dickson, a day after the ruler had administered his oath of office.

August 10. The DKU and its secretary applied to intervene in the court case over the ruler's removal.

September 5. The Undang Yang Empat announced that the signing of the proclamation was complete. A document bearing that date, signed by six individuals, became the core of the dispute that followed.

September 6. Ismail reaffirmed his loyalty to Tuanku Muhriz, without directly addressing the claim about his signature.

September 9. The Undang of Sungai Ujong, Dato' Klana Petra Muhammad Faris Johari Meor Ngah, rejected the removal bid as invalid, saying any matter touching the position of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar required his decree as Imam of the Undang Yang Empat.

September 14. The DKU described the September 5 document as treasonous under adat and law, disputed the standing of four of its signatories, and said the full inquiry required had never been conducted. It directed government officers to disregard the document, ordered a police report against six individuals, and held that Tuanku Muhriz remained on the throne.

September 15. Ismail said the menteri besar had no unilateral authority to determine the ruler's position, and that a proclamation's validity had to be assessed against the powers, requirements and procedures set out in the state constitution. The state executive council met under his chairmanship the same day and reached its decision.

September 16. The state executive councillors announced that the April 19 proclamation was valid and recognised Tuanku Nadzaruddin as the Yang di-Pertuan Besar with immediate effect. The Undang of Rembau, Datuk Sedia Raja Hassan Ab Hamid, rejected the stance, saying the executive could not override the state constitution or the DKU's rulings. Emirul Sarifudin Nor Azmi, the lawyer acting for Tuanku Nadzaruddin and the Undang Yang Empat, said the exco decision officially removes the previous ruler.

Where the dispute stands

Two sets of Undang Yang Empat now circulate in public debate. The DKU recognises Muhammad Faris Johari in Sungai Ujong, Hassan Ab Hamid in Rembau and Muhammed Abdullah in Johol, with the Jelebu chieftainship and the post of Datuk Shahbandar of Sungai Ujong vacant. The group behind the April proclamation includes figures whose standing the council has rejected.

Article 16(3) puts determinations of adat beyond the reach of the courts, while the June 5 injunction restrains the DKU from acting. The suit over the removal has yet to be decided.