Malaysia has a new billionaire king who has his own army, a fleet of private jets, and 300 luxury cars, including one apparently gifted by Adolf Hitler.
Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, 65, was crowned the country's king on Wednesday in a ceremony attended by Malaysia's prime minister, cabinet members, and members of Malaysia's nine royal families.
The outspoken royal appears to want to make an impact in his role. He told the Singapore Straits Times last month that he was determined not to waste five years on the throne as a "puppet king."
He's already raising eyebrows with his displays of wealth. A Bloomberg profile described the king as a "motorcycle-riding, Ferrari-driving, Instagram-savvy royal."
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One of Malaysia's richest men
Sultan Ibrahim — head of the Johor royal family — will use the title His Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the equivalent of king in Malaysia.
His election to the national throne was widely expected because Malaysia operates the world's only rotating system of monarchy.
Under the system, Malaysia's nine hereditary rulers, known as sultans, rotate the role of head of state between them every five years, as Reuters reported.
The new monarch was considered one of the country's most powerful and wealthiest people long before taking the new title.
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Bloomberg reported that the Johor family was worth an estimated $5.7 billion. The publication cited the family's investments in private land, real estate, and public and private companies.
The outlet reported that Sultan Ibrahim owned just under a quarter of U Mobile, one of Malaysia's largest cellphone providers, in addition to $4 billion worth of land in Singapore.
The Johor family is the only royal family in Malaysia to have a private army, which was formed in 1885 as a condition of the Anglo-Johor Treaty.
Bloomberg reported that the king had a collection of private jets and more than 300 luxury vintage cars, including one that belonged to Adolf Hitler. In a resurfaced 2013 interview posted to YouTube in 2017, Sultan Ibrahim said Hitler was a friend of his great-grandfather.
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He added that Hitler's car was sent to England and then Malaysia before being given to his great-grandfather.
The Guardian reported that Sultan Ibrahim was also a motorbike enthusiast and was known to take trips in his Harley-Davidson around Johor, where he has previously handed out "charity to the poor.'"
Though the king's role is largely ceremonial, he has certain parliamentary responsibilities, including the ability to appoint a prime minister, and he is also able to pardon those who have been convicted of crimes, as Reuters reported.
It's illegal for members of the public to openly criticize the king due to the 1948 Sedition Act. This rule was particularly significant in the late 1980s and 1990s when Sultan Ibrahim's father, the previous Sultan of Johor, was accused of murder.
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The sultan was accused of manslaughter in 1971 after shooting a trespasser, the Sydney Morning Herald reported after his death in 2010. He was publicly pardoned by his father, the 23rd Sultan of Johor, the publication added.
In 1987, he was also accused of killing a golf caddie who laughed when he missed a putt. Because he was king at the time, he couldn't be prosecuted, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The Malaysian government didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter. Representatives for the king couldn't be reached.
Despite the law forbidding them to do so, some politicians have openly spoken out against the sultans over the years.
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For example, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad criticized the Johor family's business dealings, Bloomberg reported, saying the king's various investments went directly against the country's constitutional rule that a king "shall not actively engage in any commercial enterprise."
"Actually, they should not be involved in business," Mohamad said in a recent interview, according to Bloomberg.
"Unfortunately, the Malays cannot say no to their rulers. Their culture is such that if the rulers want to do something, whatever the constitution or the law may say, they cannot say no," he added.
"The civil servants cannot say no. Even the politicians cannot say no."
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Sultan Ibrahim's wife, Raja Zarith Sofiah, is from another royal family, an Oxford graduate, and an author of children's books, as the Associated Press reported. They have six children together.
Correction: February 1, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the worth of Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar's land in Singapore. It's $4 billion, not $4 million. It also misstated when the Johor family's army was established. It was after the 1885 Anglo-Jahor Treaty, not after Malaysia's independence from Britain.
