Malaysian Monarchy and the Bonding of the Nation

A recent, major study on the 'development of Malay Kingship'speaks of the 'socio-political revival' of Malay monarchy that iscurrently taking place in this country. There is talk, says the book,of a rejection of the 'Westminster-style constitutional monarch'and the advancing of another type of 'Southeast Asian monarchy perfected by the Ruler of Thailand.' This lecture considers these propositions, and then examines Malaysian monarchy from threedirections. The first concerns the powers of the Rulers, or rather how the Rulers' powers have fared during the last two centuries.The second examines the changing ideology of Malaysianmonarchy - an important topic that has been much neglected. Thethird deals with the specific issue of whether the Malaysian Rulersought best to be understood as 'Malay Rulers' or 'Rulers.' It is particularly in this last section of the Lecture that the issue of the'bonding of the nation' will be examined. This issue is of centralimportance in a research project being undertaken this year at IKMAS under the auspices of the Distinguished Pok Rafeah Chair in International Studies.