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KUALA LUMPUR - THE Sultan of Kelantan returned home from a long stay at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore this month - only to find his royal household in ill health.
Two of his three sons are feuding over the throne, with the eldest asserting his right as Acting Sultan, while his two wives are also at odds. Sultan Ismail Petra, 60, suffered a heart attack on May 14 last year, and had been recovering in hospital ever since.
In his absence, his eldest son and the Regent, Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra, 40, was appointed to carry out his duties. In September, Tengku Faris removed his 31-year-old brother Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra from Kelantan's Council of Succession, the body that decides who succeeds the throne.
Tengku Faris also appointed five others to the council. His youngest brother retaliated in December by filing an application for a judicial review of his removal. But, in January, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that a court was not suited to deciding royal prerogatives.
On Saturday, the Acting Sultan issued a statement reiterating that he was the state ruler until his father is fully recovered. 'Until the complete recovery of the Sultan of Kelantan from his present incapacitation, the Acting Sultan will continue attending to the affairs of the state,' he said in a statement read by palace comptroller Abdul Halim Hamad.
It added that Tengku Fakhry had no authority to act on behalf of the Sultan. The statement also said the palace would not comment on the dispute between the two princes, nor on a dispute between the Sultan's two wives.
