The Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar is seen everywhere on social media lately. And fortunately, it’s for all the right reasons! Here are 8 reasons netizens just can’t help but admire and love Sultan Ibrahim.
This article originally appeared on vulcanpost.my.
1) He truly knows what’s good for the people and the state.
During an interview of Sultan of Johor and The Star, his answer for “How does the royalty balance what is good for the people and the state when it has a personal interest in so many businesses?” is terrific. He said:
It shows that he is very open and transparent in his businesses and he rather be involved in legitimate trades than sell titles and earn illegal money.
2) Just like any other ordinary parent, he hopes that his sons could learn from him and earn their living like other Malaysians despite being part of a royal family.
Sultan Ibrahim is married to Her Royal Highness Raja Zarith Sofiah. They have six children, five sons and a daughter.
During the interview with The Star, he said:
3) He is against GST (Goods and Services Tax) and has asked the state and local governments to not impose GST.
The implementation of GST was not happily welcomed by most people in Malaysia. He understands the burden of GST and has been very vocal it. As quoted by The Malay Mail, he said:
As a result, the Johor government has announced that they will absorb RM3.19m in GST for services imposed on services provided by the local government.
4) He is genuinely friendly, judging from the video where he rode a motorbike to greet the nations.
If you have no idea who he is, you probably would think that he is just a friendly Pak Cik who’s riding his motorbike in the city of Johor.
As quoted by Malaysian Digest, the humility and ‘rakyat-loving’ Sultan of Johor was spotted riding a motorbike within the vicinity of Istana Besar Johor, showed him pulling over and greet visitors on the palace grounds. He also can be seen chatting with several visitors and some lucky visitors have also got the chance to take photo with the “people’s Sultan”.
5) He is sassy.
A video of Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan tried to shake the Sultan of Johor’s hand went viral online. Ahmad Maslan doesn’t have the best of reputations due to GST and netizens have been posting comedic responses of the rejection of skin-ship online.
“Sultan had no time to shake hands with ahmad maslan but got time to take selfie with 2 ladies… then walked away… BURN” – Kuro No Sasori
“This is it ..CGPA 3.4 Minister gets ignored by 4 flat level from Sultan …. GST = Gagal Salam Tuanku..” – Salihin Kira
“Sultan don’t have time to shake hand but after I watch the video clip I feel 10x happy. Wahahahaha.” – Gana Ga Raju
https://youtu.be/I0MFgV2eeE8
6) He knows what’s best for the children.
In Malaysia, Bahasa Malaysia and English are equally important. However, English is still the Lingua Franca of the world. Sultan Johor, who is known for his openness, has stressed the importance of making English as the educational medium.
“Education is the foundation for development of future generations. If children’s education is provided for separately based on their race and language, the solidarity gap among the multi-racial society in Malaysia will continue to exist,” the Sultan said when opening the new session of the state legislative assembly.
7) He enjoys the simple pleasures of life.
You’d think that the Sultan of Johor would dine in his palace all the time, eating gourmet food that’s personally sent to his dining hall. Or that if he wanted fried beehoon, he’d just send someone out to buy it back for him so he can eat in the comforts of his home. But that isn’t the case at all as shown in a picture of Sultan Ibrahim dining at a roadside stall which has gone viral on the Internet.
8) He takes tasteful photographs with the girls.
Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar stepped into the limelight when his photo with T-Ara, a South Korean girl group went viral after it was posted by a T-ARA fan club on Twitter.
To date, the photo was retweeted more than 2,000 times in Twitter, and of course it was widely spread on Facebook too. We’re very glad that he doesn’t take pictures like this with beautiful girls: