Now as you all know by now, the Negeri Sembilan throne is in crisis today.
What is the crisis?
Well, the crisis is that the local chiefs, known as Undangs, who elected the king of Negeri Sembilan, now want to remove him from office . This is a crisis because by tradition, the Undangs are only empowered to elect the king, or the Yang Di Pertuan Besar, not remove him.
The Undangs claimed that the decision was made due to misconduct by Tuanku Muhriz, the reigning Yang Di Pertuan Besar, though they did not elaborate.
The Undang are seeking to replace him with Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja’afar, the son of the previous ruler.
The Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan, Aminuddin Harun, however, has dismissed the attempt to topple the ruler, declaring the move invalid.
He said this was because one of the four chieftains, Datuk Mubarak Thahak, the Undang of Sungei Ujong district, had been stripped of his position on April 17 by the state’s advisory body on Malay customs. His removal, reportedly tied to 33 alleged breaches of tradition and law, was backdated to May 13, 2025.
However, the chieftains have pushed back. In yet another dramatic counter-move, they are now calling for the Menteri Besar’s removal. In a statement on April 21 addressed to members of the state legislature, they declared that “(Datuk Seri) Aminuddin is no longer fit to lead the state administration and should be replaced”.
The jury however, is still out as to whether the Undangs have the power to remove not only the Yang Di Pertuan Besar, but the Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan. Do those who elect you to office have the powers to remove you also? This is a question that we shall have to wait and see for it to be answered.
Now one of the questions that some of you might be wondering about now is : " Wait a minute - what do you mean the king is elected ? Does this mean I also have a chance to be elected as the king of Negeri Sembilan?"
Well, to answer your question, yes, the king of Negeri Sembilan is elected, but no, you don't have a chance to be elected as a king, because the king will only be elected from amongst the royal family of Negeri Sembilan.
To cut a long story short, the people who created the state of Negeri Sembilan are called the Minangs, or Minangkabaus, who migrated to the area that is now called Negeri Sembilan a few hundred years ago.
When they first migrated to Negeri Sembilan, they originally did not have their own king - instead they lived under the auspices of the Johor sultanate.
However, the Johor Sultanate will weaken over time and be unable to provide protection to the Minang people.
During the period where the Johor Sultanate was weak, the Bugis people began to exert their influence on the Minang people of Negeri Sembilan, and attempt to force the Minangs to to accept the Bugis as their overlords.
To fend off the Bugis, the Minangs will request the Johor Sultanate to allow them to find a leader of their own to defend themselves.
The Johor Sultanate will approve their request, but instead of finding a leader amongst themselves, the Minangs of Negeri Sembilan will get a member of the Pagar Ruyung royal house, their original homeland in Sumatera, to be their new king.
With the leadership of their new king, the Minangs will cast the Bugis influence from their territory, but when their first king died, the Minangs did not automatically bestow kingship on his son.
Instead, they again went to Pagar Ruyung to request a new king for themselves.
After the second king passed, they again went to Pagar Ruyung to request for their third king.
After their third King passed however, they could not go to Pagar Ruyung to obtain their fourth king, because the Pagar Ruyung royal house had been decimated by war.
It was around this point that the Minangs of Negeri Sembilan began a tradition of electing their kings, and the first king they elected - their fourth king - was the son of their third king.
In the tradition of electing their own king that the Minangs of Negeri Sembilan developed, those at the grass root will elect a chief amongst them, who will then elect a higher level chief, who will then elect an even higher level chief, and four of the highest level chiefs, called Undangs, will then elect the King of Negeri Sembilan, from amongst the members of the royal house of Negeri Sembilan.
This system of electing kings by the Minangs, was later applied to the system of electing the Agong of Malaysia. Just as how the Undangs elect the Yang Di Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan from the royal house of Negeri Sembilan, the Majlis Raja Raja also elects the Agong from amongst the 9 kings of Malaysia.
As we understand it, when a king or Agong is elected, they will rule until they either pass away or their term ends or they abdicate, but there has yet to be a case in the country where the King or Agong was forcibly removed from office.
Naturally, there should be some provision in law to remove a king from office externally, like in the case where the King is incapacitated for health reasons for example, but it is debatable as to what extent these provisions can be applied to remove a king, who is actively resisting the removal.
Other than the question of whether it is possible or remove a king without the king's consent, the Negeri Sembilan crisis of the throne will also raise the question as to whether those who elect you have the powers to remove you.
Not only the king of Negeri Sembilan, other positions like that of MPs, Aduns, Chief Ministers, Judges, General of the Army, the Prime Minister and even the Agong, are also elected.
If those who elected them wish for them to be removed, can they be removed from office as well ?
I suppose we will find out the answer to the questions the more that the royal crisis in the house of Negeri Sembilan unfolds.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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