Johor sultan coming for old time’s sake
By Cathy C. Yamsuan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:14:00 04/27/2011
Filed Under: Imperial and Royal Matters, Politics
MANILA, Philippines—Nothing fancy for this royal though the Palace gardener drives a Porsche. Bagoong will do, thank you.
An informal call by Sultan Ibrahim III of Malaysia on President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday renews a friendship that began 30 years ago with a frequent house guest in Boston dressed in dungarees and fondly called “the king.”
The President’s eldest sister, Maria Elena “Ballsy” Cruz, said that in 1981, the unassuming young Malaysian, who was also called “Yem,” spent most of his free time hanging around in the Aquino residence in Boston.
The then Crown Prince of Johor “did not act like a future king,” said Cruz in a phone interview. “He wasn’t like Prince William in the sense that he had a stately air around him. And he was pleased not to be called ‘Your Highness.’”
Proclaimed Sultan of Johor in 2010 after the death of his father, the Malaysian was a student at Harvard University in 1981 when the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the President’s father, came to address the students.
A fiery speaker, Senator Aquino was clapped in jail by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos when martial law was declared in September 1972. He was temporarily released to undergo a heart bypass in Boston in May 1980 and remained in the United States as an exile until August 1983 when he returned to Manila to rally a divided opposition against Marcos but was assassinated at the airport.
“There is no specific agenda. This would just be a visit by a friend. This is not an official visit. The king doesn’t want the tour-tour stuff. Probably just a courtesy call and a simple dinner in Malacanang,” said the President’s uncle, Antolin Oreta Jr.
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