Sultan Abu Bakar: Game changer ahead of his time

Historian Khoo Kay Kim says the current Johor ruler, Sultan Ibrahim, has maintained the legacy left by the Father of Modern Johor.

PETALING JAYA: Many know the late Sultan Abu Bakar as the “Father of Modern Johor” because that is what he is called in school text books, but the books don’t say enough about the huge impact he had on the state’s development to give the epithet its full meaning.

Renowned historian Khoo Kay Kim lamented this “large neglect” when he spoke to FMT in a recent interview.

Khoo said Sultan Abu Bakar, who ruled from 1886 to 1895, modernised education in the state as well as its administration and economy.

“He was the first sultan in the land to introduce westernised methods of administration and education.

And whereas other states had sekolah pondok for religious schools, Johor had Islamic schools with proper buildings, time tables and Mathematics and English lessons.”

In those days, he said, the Johor capital was one of the most modern cities in the world. Its name was changed from Tanjong Puteri to Johor Bahru to indicate its modernity, he added.

More significantly, Khoo said, Sultan Abu Bakar gave Johor its state constitution in 1895. It was the first constitution introduced in British Malaya and was drafted not by a Briton, but by a Malay noble, Abdul Rahman Andak.

“Sultan Abu Bakar allowed himself to be bound to the constitution, the supreme law of the land,” Khoo noted.

He said the main feature of the Johor constitution was that it provided for a council of ministers to advise and assist the sultan in administrative matters. “This was extremely progressive for the time. Many rulers would have preferred to have sovereign power.”

Khoo said the current ruler of the state, Sultan Ibrahim, had learnt well from Sultan Abu Bakar and his successors. He pointed to the development of the Iskandar region, which he described as “impressive”.

“Sultan Ibrahim is very much like Sultan Abu Bakar,” he said. “He plays a proactive role in Johor’s administration and has done a lot of positive things. It is good to see a sultan taking such an interest in his state’s administration.” -FMT