An earlier version of this article was republished in Bahasa Melayu by Free Malaysia Today.
The Undangs are all over the news. Far fewer people know one is actually appointed, or how one is removed. The answer may surprise some readers, because the authority does not begin at the palace.
It rises from the Luak. Only after the Luak has reached its decision does the Yang di-Pertuan Besar receive it and grant his assent at the proper time.
Here is the process, step by step. The broad process is common to all four Luaks, though each, Sungei Ujong, Jelebu, Johol, and Rembau, carries its own variations in the detail.
Step 1: It begins with the mother
Negeri Sembilan runs on a centuries-old matrilineal order called Adat Perpatih, carried from the Minangkabau highlands of West Sumatra.
Lineage, land, and identity trace through the mother, and every person is born into the suku, or clan, of their mother rather than their father.
The twelve suku are the social bedrock on which every office rests. The land and home belong to the women's line, and at its centre stands the Ibu Soko, the senior matriarch whose authority anchors the customary order.
Step 2: The family chooses its Buapak
Each perut, or family branch, chooses a Buapak (sub clan head), an elder and spokesman. He is chosen from below by members of the family group, and he is tested by his own anak buah (clan members) before he is installed.
Step 3: The Buapak choose the Lembaga
Once each family branch has its Buapak, the Buapak together choose a Lembaga (clan leader), the chief of the whole suku. In many settings the office is tied to recognised branches within the suku, so the choice is confined to a defined pool.
When a Luak installs a Lembaga or Buapak, the rite is the Istiadat Menyalang, at which the new holder pays homage, or merafak sembah, and the Undang hands him the customary tokens of office, a keris (dagger), ceremonial attire, and the Watikah of his appointment (malaysiaaktif.my, 26 July 2018).
Each chief takes office through the authority one rung above him. A Lembaga is recognised by his Undang, and an Undang by the Yang di-Pertuan Besar.
Step 4: Only one clan can produce an Undang
The office of Undang is not open to every suku. It is confined to recognised Biduanda waris lines within each Luak. Eligibility is fixed by birth and only a man born to the right line can be considered. A candidate is also expected never to have broken the pantang larang adat (customary prohibitions), which include corruption, cruelty and a violent temper. Conduct therefore forms part of eligibility as well as grounds for removal.
Step 5: The Luak’s customary bodies choose the Undang by consensus
Article 14(1) of the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959 provides that the Undangs of Sungai Ujong, Jelebu, Johol, and Rembau shall be persons lawfully elected in accordance with the custom of their respective Luaks.
This means that the recognised Adat bodies of the Luak, including the relevant Buapak, Ibu Soko, waris, and Lembaga, reach a decision according to the custom of that Luak.
The choice is made by consensus, or muafakat, and deliberation continues until agreement is reached. The defining feature is that the decision is made within the Luak, by the Luak’s own bodies.
The precise mechanics vary from Luak to Luak, though the principle of a choice made within the Luak by consensus holds across all four.
Step 6: The title passes through the female line
Because a man’s children belong to their mother’s suku, an Undang’s own sons usually cannot succeed him. The heir is often found among his sister’s sons or other eligible men of the same maternal line. Each Luak then applies its own rotation:
Sungei Ujong alternates between the Waris Klana di-Hulu and the Waris Klana di-Hilir, and the holder carries the title Dato’ Klana Petra (Sinar Harian, 27 June 2026).
Rembau alternates between two heir lines of the Biduanda drawn from eight kampung. An Undang from the Lela Maharaja line carries the title Dato’ Lela Maharaja, and one from the Sedia Raja line carries the title Dato’ Sedia Raja (Malaysiakini, 30 July 2024, The Star, 28 June 2026).
Johol draws its Undang from two branches of the Biduanda Waris, Perut Johol and Perut Gemencheh, and the holder carries the title Dato’ Johan Pahlawan Lela Perkasa Setiawan (Malaysiakini, 28 July 2026, Malay Mail, 20 April 2026).
Jelebu draws its Undang from three of the five waris (lineages) of the Biduanda tribe: Waris Ulu Jelebu, Waris Sarin and Waris Kemin, known as the waris berundang (lineages entitled to supply the Undang). Custom as recorded in 1946 rotates the office between them in that strict order, with the Undang elected unanimously by a Council of Eight lembaga (clan chiefs). The holder carries the title Dato’ Mendika Menteri Akhirulzaman (Man, September-October 1946, Berita Harian, August 2019).
Step 7: The Luak brings its chief before the Tuanku
Only at this point does the palace enter the process, at the close of the process and not the start of it.
Once a Luak has settled on its chief, its representatives carry that choice to Seri Menanti and come in audience, or mengadap, to pay homage and to seek royal assent.
The ceremony that completes the making of an Undang is the Istiadat Menzahirkan Kejadian Undang, held at Seri Menanti, at which the new holder is recognised in office and the assent and the Watikah, the written instrument of appointment, issue from the throne.
The order of that process is an important point that many get wrong, the press included.
A mengadap is the Luak approaching the palace, and the Tuanku’s part in it is to receive, to consent at the proper time, and to confirm. He is the custodian of the custom and the giver of royal assent, holding the seal on a decision the Luak itself has made, rather than a decision maker who selects or installs a chief of his own choosing.
Step 8: The same Lembaga can remove the Undang
Removal travels the same path as appointment, in reverse. The body that raises an Undang is the body that can bring him down, and Article 14(3) recognises that an Undang may vacate or be removed in accordance with the custom of his Luak.
The mechanism sits with the Lembaga and the Adat leadership of the Luak, acting through their own customary process, which keeps both the making and the unmaking of a chief inside the Luak that he serves.
Step 9: The Dewan Keadilan dan Undang acknowledges, and its advice is final
The Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) sits above this process to advise and to acknowledge.
Article 16(1) establishes it to advise on questions of Malay custom in any part of the State, including the election, succession, removal, or vacation of office of a ruling chief, and Article 16(3) provides that its advice on such questions shall be final and shall not be challenged or called in question in any court on any ground.
The DKU acknowledges what a Luak has decided, and the act of choosing or removing the chief remains the Luak’s own.
Does the Yang di-Pertuan Besar appoint or remove an Undang?
He does neither, and that distinction is the heart of the whole custom. Appointment and removal of an Undang both belong to the Luak, acting through its own bodies, which are its Lembaga, its waris, and at the root the Ibu Soko, all working through the established customary process.
A chief is made within his own Luak, by the Luak’s own authorities, and the same authorities are the ones who can unmake him. Legitimacy here is something the roots of the community give upward.
The role of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar sits at the point of consent. When a Luak has reached its decision, its representatives come before him to seek royal assent, and his part is to receive them, to consent at the proper time, and to recognise the choice the Luak has placed before him.
He is the custodian of the custom and the giver of that assent rather than its author, and the initiative stays with the Luak from first to last. The direction runs from the Luak up to the palace, not the other way around.
The same custom that gives the throne its role of consent also fixes the limit of that role, because the power to consent is not a power to choose. The Tuanku’s assent recognises what a Luak has genuinely decided, and it carries no power to override a Luak that is functioning or to settle an outcome the Luak’s own bodies did not reach. That limit is the safeguard, and it is the reason the Yang di-Pertuan Besar receives and recognises rather than selects and installs.
A Luak decides first. The palace recognises that decision afterwards.
Read next: Why Do Several Wikipedia Pages Now Call the Undangs ‘Rajas’ of Negeri Sembilan?
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Sources:
The Laws of the Constitution of Negeri Sembilan, 1959 (Negeri Sembilan State Government)
The Election of an Undang of Jelebu (Man, September-October 1946)
Istiadat Menyalang Datuk Lembaga Dilaksanakan Penuh Beradat (malaysiaaktif.my, 26 July 2018)
Istiadat pertabalan Undang Luak Jelebu Ke-16 diadakan secara rasmi (Berita Harian, August 2019)
MB, DKU digesa selesaikan kemelut pemilihan Undang Luak Rembau (Malaysiakini, 30 July 2024)
Negri Ruler formalises appointment of two new Undang (The Star, 28 June 2026)
KOLUM | Pusingan gila krisis adat di N Sembilan (Malaysiakini, 28 July 2026)
Anak Nogori is independent commentary on the unfolding constitutional crisis in Negeri Sembilan, where centuries-old Adat Perpatih, royal succession law, and modern political manoeuvring are colliding in ways Malaysia has never seen before. If you find this useful, share it with someone who should be following this, or subscribe to receive the latest articles in your inbox.
