Malaysia ex-king must pay debt in landmark trial

by Sanjay Jha | October 15, 2008 at 01:16 am

60 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

After handing over power to democratic forces Malaysia's monarchy has a largely ceremonial role but it commands wide public respect, particularly among the ethnic Malay Muslim majority, who regard the king as the supreme upholder of Malay tradition and the symbolic head of Islam. However Sultans, the king, had long remained above the law until the government made dramatic changes in the constitution in 1993 following a state ruler's alleged assault of a hockey coach. However, Standard Chartered's 2005 lawsuit marked the first successful attempt to take a ruler to trial.

A Malaysian court ordered the country's former king on Wednesday to settle a $1m debt to a bank in a landmark verdict that en ded a centuries-old tradition shielding the country's royal sultans from legal prosecution.

The case brought by Standard Chartered Bank against Tuanku Jaafar Tuanku Abdul Rahman was the first trial involving a Malaysian monarch since a 1993 constitutional amendment dissolved the immunity of state rulers from criminal and civil lawsuits.

"This would be an ordinary case but what is exceptional is that it involves a ruler," the bank's lawyer, Robert Lazar said.

A special panel of Malaysia's top five judges unanimously ruled that Tuanku Jaafar was liable for a $1m credit provided by the bank in a 1999 business contract involving him and the US-based Connecticut Bank of Commerce. Tuanku Jaafar was Malaysia's king at the time.

Tuanku Jaafar, the 86-year-old royal head of southern Negri Sembilan state, served as Malaysia's constitutional monarch between 1994 and 1999 in a unique system that allows nine hereditary state rulers to take turns being king for a five-year term.