Succession Prior to being the Sultan or Agong, and even during the 1980s and early 1990s, Mahmood's reputation was marred by a number of controversial incidents which received occasional attention from the media. One of these earliest incidents was the loss of his status as Tunku Mahkota in 1961–a position which his father, Sultan Ismail, appointed him to two years earlier, citing reasons of alleged misbehaviour Iskandar's younger brother, Abdul Rahman (Tunku Bendahara of Johor) was appointed as the Tunku Mahkota in favour of him. Nevertheless, in 1966, Mahmood Iskandar was appointed the Raja Muda–which put him second in line to the throne. under the orders of his father. Relations with the
Menteri Besar of Johor,
Othman Saat deteriorated when the latter questioned Iskandar's legitimacy to the throne, which led to an incident which saw the Sultan issuing an order to the Menteri Besar to vacate his office within 24 hours, shortly after Sultan Ismail's death, citing that he needed that office space for himself. The Menteri Besar heeded his order, though the Sultan did not move in as he had said.
Othman Saat subsequently resigned the following year as the Menteri Besar. • for assaulting a customs officer who did not reply his question on why his car was prevented from repairs at an automobile assembly plant; However after the prosecution's appeal, High Court's judge,
Raja Azlan Shah, when delivering the sentence described the third case as "like pages torn from some mediaeval times" and characterised his actions as "sadistic brutality". In 1977, Mahmood was charged and convicted for
manslaughter for shooting and killing a man near his private helicopter, whom he took to be a smuggler. In both cases, his father, Sultan Ismail, intervened and granted official pardons to Mahmood. Similarly, his eldest son,
Tunku Ibrahim Ismail, was convicted in the 1980s for shooting a man to death in a nightclub during a feud, but was quickly pardoned. In 1987, Sultan Iskandar was further accused of causing the death of a golf caddy in the
Cameron Highlands by assault, following an incident in which the golf caddy laughed when the Sultan missed a shot.
Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first Prime Minister, pointed out that the Sultan, at the time serving as
Yang di-Pertuan Agong, could not be prosecuted due to immunity that was accorded to rulers, while at the same time condemning Sultan Iskandar's actions. Eventually, the matter passed without much further public attention. The brother of the caddy – who also suffered injuries during the incident, being distressed from what he saw, subsequently ran amok in
Kuala Lumpur and had to be quarantined in a mental hospital.
Gomez Incident Assault In late 1992, two separate assault cases by the Sultan as well as his younger son, Tunku Abdul Majid Idris, on hockey coaches culminated in the stripping of immunity of rulers from prosecution. Both cases received considerable attention in the local and international news which was dubbed as "The Gomez Incident". The incident was kicked off on 10 July 1992, when Sultan Iskandar's second son, the Tunku Bendahara– Tunku
Abdul Majid Idris, lost his temper during a hockey match with the Perak hockey team after Perak won the match by a penalty stroke, and assaulted the
Perak goalkeeper, Mohamed Ja'afar Mohamed Vello. The goalkeeper later lodged a police report on 30 July. The incident received public attention, especially when the matter was debated in parliament. The incident resulted in the Malaysian Hockey Federation issuing Majid – then second-in line to the throne after his elder brother – a ban of five years from participating in any tournaments following investigations. Tunku Abdul Majid was later convicted of assault in January 1993, of which the chief justice sentenced him to a year in prison, on top of a RM 2,000 fine. He was released on a bail, and these charges were later dropped on grounds of immunity, which was still applicable at the time when the act was committed. The Sultan responded to the ban by putting pressure on the state authorities to pull Johorean hockey teams from all national tournaments. Following Gomez's meeting with the Sultan, Gomez sought treatment to his face and stomach. Subsequently, he lodged a police report against the Sultan for assault. Gomez elaborated that the Sultan's bodyguards and members of the
Johor Military Forces present were merely onlookers, and that the Sultan was solely responsible for the injuries.
Public responses and follow ups The assault resulted in a public outcry over the event which pressured all levels of the government up to the top ranks of the federal government to investigate into the matter. In the closing months of 1992, and also the opening months of 1993, dozens of articles mentioning misdeeds by the royal families of several states–but in particular Sultan Iskandar himself were published. A good deal of these alleged misdeeds that were mentioned included the charging of exorbitant fines–way above the prescribed legal limits–upon offenders who had obstructed the Sultan's car, amongst others. Sultan Iskandar, bore the brunt of the backlash by the numerous references centred towards alleged acts of criminal wrongdoings even though many of the listed acts were committed by other members of the royal family. The criticisms roused by the press prompted Members of Parliament of the
Dewan Rakyat to convene a special session on 10 December 1992. All 96 parliamentarians present passed a unanimous resolution which called for action to curb the powers of the rulers if necessary. During the special meeting, parliamentarians disclosed past criminal records of Sultan Iskandar and his two sons, all of whom had been involved in a total of at least 23 cases of assault and manslaughter, five of which were committed by the Sultan after 1981, two by the Mahkota and three by the Bendahara. A bill was passed by both the
Dewan Rakyat and
Dewan Negara on 19 and 20 January 1993 respectively. The bill, which proposed to remove legal immunity was approved by six out of nine sultans–but saw stiff opposition from three, two of which included Sultan
Ismail Petra of Kelantan and Sultan Iskandar himself. Sultan Iskandar took up the initiative to obtain more royal support to stall the implementation of the proposed bill. The bill, which proposed to strip rulers and members of the royal families of legal immunity, would make them prosecutable by the law in any cases of proven criminal wrongdoings. Sultan Iskandar organised a rally which was to be held outside his palace on 8 January 1993 with the aim of garnering public support to stall the bill's implementation. However, after intense pressure from the government, the rally was cancelled on 3 January. A report made during the rally quoted Sultan Iskandar calling upon all local civil servants to boycott state and federal functions in a show of support for his motion. Meanwhile, the federal government continued to pressure the rulers into assenting to the bills, which they did after several revisions of the bill were made by the government. Following which, the proposed bill was enshrined into the
Federal Constitution in March 1993. The bill allowed rulers who violated the laws to be prosecuted, while the
Sedition Act of 1948 was also amended to allow public criticism of the rulers. A special court was created –presided by the
Lord President of the Federal Court– to empower and prosecute members of the rulers and immediate members of the royal household.
Aftermath Sultan Iskandar and his family members were not prosecuted for their past violations of the law on grounds that the royal immunity was still applicable when those incidents occurred. Nevertheless, shortly after the incident, Sultan Iskandar was prompted to take steps to rehabilitate his public image, which was more or less tarnished by the incident. In a public speech shortly after the episode, the Sultan was noted to have somewhat toned down his hardline image and appeared to be somewhat more humble, appealing to Johoreans to maintain their loyalty to him. which was agreed to by the State Government of Johor in August 1993. This led to the tabling of a disbandment bill in the parliament on 4 July 1994. However, the bill was withdrawn from parliament two days later.
Political Yang di-Pertuan Agong (1980s) Shortly before his election as the Yang-Di Pertuan Agong in 1983, a spate of reports alleging Sultan Iskandar's intention to launch a coup d'état by launching a
state of emergency to overthrow the government circulated within political circles, which reached Prime Minister of Malaysia
Mahathir Mohamad. The Sultan reportedly fostered close relations with several key military personnel, including the Army chief Jeneral Zain Hashim. The government subsequently took action to curb loopholes within the constitutional framework and to reduce the power of the royal veto in passing legislation, culminating in a constitutional crisis in late 1983. Nevertheless, during his inaugural speech as the Agong in 1984, about a month after the constitutional amendments were passed in parliament, Sultan Iskandar voiced public support for the revised constitution and pledged to act in accordance to the Prime Minister's advice. A diplomatic scandal between the United Kingdom and Malaysia broke out in 1984, when several British newspapers published pieces on Sultan Iskandar's coronation, citing the headlines such as "Killer becomes King" and "King a Killer", which enraged the Malaysian government, who demanded an apology from the British government. The British government refused to apologise on behalf of the newspapers, triggering tensions between the two countries. Two months later, in June 1984, Sultan Iskandar in his capacity as the Agong, surprised the Malaysian public when he publicly called upon
Deputy Prime Minister,
Musa Hitam, to make a public apology in front of the entire congregation present at the
National Mosque. Sultan Iskandar, on his part, was angry over remarks which Musa made during the course of the 1983 constitutional crisis that he deemed to be disrespectful. Musa abided to the Agong's demand and boldly came forward to make the apology, which was greeted by a thunderous applause from the entire congregation. The event, which was broadcast live throughout the nation on Malaysian Radio (although the television stations abruptly terminated its broadcast halfway), was seen by many observers as an act of confrontation by the Agong to put Musa in his place. In 1988, also serving in his capacity as the Yang-Di Pertuan Agong, the
Lord President of the Federal Court Tun
Salleh Abas was sacked by the Agong in what led to the
1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis. However, observers suggested a remarkably warm relationship between
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and the Agong, both of whom shared common resentment towards the chief justice, Salleh Abas. In 1973, Iskandar was convicted of assault and was sentenced to six months imprisonment, to which Salleh Abas served as the public prosecutor hearing the case. As the public prosecutor, Salleh had appealed to the chief justice, Raja
Azlan Shah, for handing down a heavier sentence for Iskandar, which earned his wrath. The sacking of the Lord President, was however not without controversy, given the alleged manner in which the Agong and Prime Minister had handled the matter–including an incident which the Agong had refused to forgive the Lord President in spite of Salleh's willingness to offer his apology to the Agong, which he turned down.
Later years (2000 onwards) Sultan Iskandar's public call to support
Abdullah Badawi's administration in October 2006 created a minor stir among Mahathir's supporters, when he remarked that "Mahathir should act like a pensioner". The call came at a time when Mahathir's spate of criticisms against Abdullah's was at its most intense. The Sultan was the first state ruler to publicly defend the policy of the government during the period of Mahathir's criticisms against the Abdullah administration. Earlier sources however, noted Sultan Iskandar's concerns with the deepening rift between Mahathir and Abdullah and had asked to be photographed together with the two leaders during the
United Malays National Organisations (UMNO) 60th anniversary celebrations in Johor Bahru. A month later, in November 2006, another small stir erupted during the launching ceremony of the Iskandar Development Region, when Sultan Iskandar voiced his opinion that the
Causeway, which connects
Johor and Singapore, should be removed to allow ships to pass through to promote development of the state. He also remarked that the people should be wary of all foreigners as they were "vultures" and also urged the people not to hold them in high regard, citing his displeasure that his ancestors were "deceived" by dirty tactics employed by colonialists to build the Causeway. At the inaugural 12th Johor State Assembly Seating in April 2008, a minor controversy erupted when one opposition state assemblyman (ADUN), Gwee Tong Hiang, flouted dress regulations by appearing in a lounge suit and tie instead of the usual official attire and songkok. This resulted in him being dismissed from the assembly chamber shortly before the Sultan's arrival. Gwee, a
Democratic Action Party (DAP) ADUN, reportedly argued that there was no stated order to wear the official attire and songkok and stated his desire to wear a western suit, promptly drew flak from other ADUNs and the Menteri Besar,
Abdul Ghani Othman who had earlier on met to agree to don in the official attire and songkok prior to the assembly, whereby Gwee was absent. The Sultan, apparently angry at Gwee, sharply criticised him two days later and publicly called upon Gwee to seek an audience with him.
Lifestyle During his time as the Agong, Sultan Iskandar was often seen in public carrying a pistol in his waistband, which drew considerable concern and discomfort from the Malaysian public due to his past record of criminal offences. He was also reputed to have led a flamboyant lifestyle, which also drew similar criticism. ==Personal life==