Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor
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Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Al-Mutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj (born Tunku Ibrahim Ismail ibni Tunku Mahmud Iskandar; 22 November 1958 - ) is the 25th Sultan of Johor and the 5th Sultan of modern Johor. He is the son of Iskandar Ismail of Johor and the father of Ismail Ibrahim of Johor.
Biography edit
Tunku Ibrahim Ismail was born on at 22 November 1958, Sultanah Aminah Hospital, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaya during the reign of his great grandfather, Sultan Ibrahim. He was the eldest son of Sultan Iskandar by his first wife Josephine Ruby Trevorrow (2 December 1935 – 1 June 2018), an English lady from Torquay, whom Sultan Iskandar (then Tunku Mahmud) met while he was studying in England. Trevorrow, a proprietor by profession, took on the name of "Kalsom binti Abdullah" for a time following her marriage to Tunku Iskandar. His mother has since remarried and lived in England.
His great-grandfather, Sultan Ibrahim died in London on 8 May 1959, thus, Tunku Ibrahim Ismail's grandfather, Ismail of Johor succeeded him as Sultan of Johor. Ibrahim Ismail moved up to second in line to the throne, after his father.
The late Sultan Iskandar sent him to complete his secondary education at Trinity Grammar School in Sydney, Australia from 1968 until 1970. After finishing his high school, he was sent to Pusat Latihan Tentera Darat (PULADA) in Kota Tinggi for basic military training. He also received military training in the US–at Fort Benning, Georgia and later at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Tunku Ibrahim Ismail was appointed as the Tunku Mahkota of Johor on 4 July 1981, and had been primarily residing at Istana Pasir Pelangi since then. Tunku Ibrahim was the regent of Johor between 26 April 1984 and 25 April 1989 when his father served his term as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. In recent years, Tunku Ibrahim gradually took over some of the state duties and functions from his aging father; these included the 211th Conference of Rulers, whereby Tunku Ibrahim and Tengku Abdullah, the Tengku Mahkota of Pahang represented their fathers in the meetings, among some other state functions.
A motorcycle enthusiast, Sultan Ibrahim is well-known as the founder of the annual motorcycling tour event, Kembara Mahkota Johor.
Act of Villainy & Controversies edit
Allegations of Criminal Misconduct edit
Occasional reports of alleged criminal misconduct from the 1980s onwards marred Tunku Ibrahim's reputation somewhat, albeit to a much lesser extent than his father, Sultan Iskandar, whose past heinous crimes had received considerable attention from mainstream media. In the 1980s, he was convicted of shooting dead a man in a nightclub during a feud, but was quickly pardoned.
In late 1992 to early 1993, Tunku Ibrahim also experienced fallouts of the Gomez Incident–in which his father and younger brother, Tunku Majid were accused of two separate but related incidences of assault which provoked a moral outrage nationwide and ultimately resulting in constitutional amendments allowing members of the royalty to be prosecuted for criminal wrongdoings. During that period of time, the press, which was supported by the Malaysian government, launched a series of vociferous press reports on the history of alleged incidences of royal wrongdoings, of which parliamentarians highlighted that Tunku Ibrahim had been convicted in at least two cases of assault in the 1980s. This included a victim who was allegedly assaulted by Tunku Ibrahim, Rahim Mohd Nor, who went so far as to describe his assault experience as an act of sadism by Tunku Ibrahim.
In March 2005, a member of the Malaysian royalty allegedly assaulted a young woman by the name of Yasmin with whom he accused of two-timing him with another policeman. The victim's father, Mohd Yasin, later lodged a police report which claimed that the assault culprit was Tunku Ibrahim, the Tunku Mahkota of Johor.
Other Misconducts edit
Shortly before Filipino politician Benigno Aquino's assassination in August 1983, Tunku Ibrahim met Aquino upon his arrival in Singapore and later brought him to meet other Malaysian leaders across the Causeway. Once in Johor, Aquino met Ibrahim's father, Sultan Iskandar, who was a close friend of Aquino's.
In October 2005, a brawl occurred on Pulau Rawa after a Johor prince allegedly gatecrashed a wedding party. The prince ordered some guests off the island after a fight broke out when a woman refused to dance with one of the gatecrashers. The locals, who felt offended by the woman's attitude, went off but soon returned with golf clubs and weapons and started a fight. In the process, several people were injured and sent to hospital, while five others were arrested, including a 20-year-old prince from the Johor royal family. The names of the culprits were not released by the police, who chose to retain the confidentiality of the attackers. The Tunku Mahkota issued a press statement to urge the culprits to apologise to the affected guests.
The following June, press reports leaked that Tunku Ibrahim had chalked RM 26,700 worth of unpaid traffic fines since 2000, causing much embarrassment to the crown prince. A later report quoted him settling all the past fines with the traffic police.
Tunku Ibrahim also spend lavishly on the unusual car number plate number. For example, in May 2012, he spent RM520,000 to successfully bid for the car number plate WWW 1 for his red orange Satria Neo. In Jan 2014, he also spent a record breaking RM748,000 on the car plate number W1N for his blue Suprima S.