Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar ascended the throne as Malaysia’s 17th king on Saturday (20 July) during an elaborate coronation ceremony in the National Palace. Sultan Ibrahim hails from the southern state of Johor whose sultanate can be traced back to the 16th century. Malaysia practices a unique rotational form of monarchy, in which the heads of the country’s nine royal families take turns to be king for a five-year reign. While the monarchy plays a mostly ceremonial role in Malaysia, its influence has expanded in recent times, prompting the King to invoke rarely-used discretionary powers to address political instability and maintain order.