KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — A motorcade bearing the Johor royal insignia was seen leaving Istana Negara here at 5.17pm today, nearly five hours after it arrived for the special Conference of Rulers’ meeting to discuss the current Covid-19 crisis in Malaysia among other matters.
Trumpets sounded at Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar’s departure from the palace gates. The Johor sultan was among the early arrivals for the special meeting today, clocking in at 12.02pm.
At 5.55pm, vehicles belonging to Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Muhammad Zuki Ali, Chief of the Armed Forces General Tan Sri Affendi Buang and Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani were seen departing from the palace in succession.
The three civil servants had been called to the palace earlier, believed to brief the Rulers on the current Covid-19 situation in the country.
The Rulers of the other states made their exit later.
The motorcades of Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor and Tuanku Mukhriz Tuanku Munawir of Negri Sembilan were seen departing in succession at 7pm.
Next was Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak, Sultan Sallehudin Badlishah of Kedah and the representative of Perlis Regent Tuanku Syed Putra Jamaluail about five minutes later.
Today’s special meeting was held following a series of audiences granted individually by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to key political party leaders amid growing public discontent with the government’s management of the pandemic that has seen total lockdown measures prolong.
The meeting was chaired by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and started at around 2.30pm.
As Sultan Abdullah is also the Ruler of Pahang, the state was represented by his son Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah.
The Rulers are expected to release a statement later on the outcome of their meeting and may point to Malaysia’s future direction regarding the current Emergency that is scheduled to end on August 1.
