In full, Duli Yang Maha Mulia Baginda Al-Mutawakkil Alallah
Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Sir Ismail Al-Khalidi
(born April 8, 1932) in Johor Bahru was the eighth Yang di-Pertuan
Agong (roughly equivalent to King) of Malaysia from April 26, 1984
to April 25, 1989, and fourth Sultan of Johor.
The eldest son of Sultan Ismail ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim by
Sultanah Ungku Tun Aminah binti Ungku Paduka Bena Sri Maharaja
Utama Ahmad, the prince was named Tunku Mahmood Iskandar. However,
as all other Sultans of Johor with the name "Mahmood" met with an
uneasy end, he dropped his first name upon succeeding his father on
May 10, 1981.
A controversial figure in Malaysia, Sultan Iskandar has led a
chequered life. Appointed Tunku Mahkota or Crown Prince in 1959, he
was dismissed from that post in 1961 by his father after being
found guilty of assault in the Malaysian courts and sentenced to
imprisonment. However, Sultan Ismail relented on his deathbed and
restored Tunku Mahmood Iskandar to the succession ten days before
the former died.
A keen soldier, Sultan Iskandar was often at loggerheads with the
then Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad while he was Sultan of
Johor. However, in 1984, upon election as Yang di-Pertuan Agong,
Sultan Iskandar warmed to his Prime Minister and relationships
between the two reached dizzying heights when Mahathir was invested
with the first class family order of the crown of Johor, a
previously unheard of honour for a commoner.
While he was Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Iskandar created further
controversy by assaulting a golf caddy. A soldier, the brother of
the caddy who was badly injured, subsequently ran amok in Kuala
Lumpur causing a security scare. The soldier was later arrested and
sent to a mental hospital.
His assault on a hockey coach and teacher, Mr Douglas Gomez
(d.1999) sparked a constitutional crisis between the government and
the Malay Rulers which culminated in the removal of the legal
immunity from prosecution of all the rulers in March 1993.
Sultan Iskandar, however, continues to be immune from prosecution
for his previous offences as the law which provides for the rulers
to be stripped of their legal immunity was not made retroactive.
(i.e. having a backdating effect)
Sultan Iskandar divorced the mother of his Crown Prince, a Cornish
lady by the name of Josephine Trevorrow, in favour of Tengku
Zanariah binti Tengku Panglima Raja Ahmad of the Kelantan royal
family. She served as his Raja Permaisuri Agong and is the current
Sultanah of Johor.
