When Have Undangs Been Removed Before?

2016 is remembered because it was the first time an Undang was removed. But 2026 will be historic for what the Undangs attempted to do.

May 02, 2026

The institution of the Undang Yang Empat is three centuries old, but removals of a sitting Undang under Adat are rare events. The current dispute in Negeri Sembilan has produced several references to the 2016 removal of the 14th Undang Luak Johol.

Here is what the public record contains.

A note on what the DKU actually does

Before walking through the cases, one constitutional point bears clarifying, because it shapes how each of these incidents should be read.

The Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) does not itself remove an Undang Luak. Under the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959, the substantive power to remove an Undang sits with the Adat institutions of the luak itself: the Telaga Undang, the Waris, and the Lembaga Adat of that particular luak. The DKU’s role is to acknowledge the decision once it has been properly made under Adat, and to grant or withhold its restu.

The distinction matters because it locates the substantive act of removal where Adat Perpatih has always located it: inside the Luak, with the people who hold authority under custom. The DKU is the body that recognises or declines to recognise. It does not perform the act itself.

2016: The first removal of a sitting Undang

On 27 March 2016, Datuk Mohd Jan Abdul Ghani, the 14th Undang Luak Johol, was removed from his position by the Adat chiefs of Luak Johol. The decision was made unanimously after several rounds of kerapatan. Datuk Jenang Zakaria Mohamad announced the removal in the presence of Mohd Jan himself, the Buapak Yang Enam, and the Datuk Batin at Balai Undang Luak Johol.

Thirteen alleged offences relating to Adat and conduct were read out at the ceremony. According to the Ketua Buapak Yang Enam, Datuk Nenggarang Hasanuddin Ahmad, the offences had been accumulating since Mohd Jan’s installation in 2007, and included acting in ways that bypassed the Buapak Yang Enam, allowing his administration to be influenced by people with personal interests, and a specific 2015 incident involving the unauthorised conferment of titles by Balai Undang Luak Johol.

The removal was effective immediately upon the decision of the Lembaga Adat Luak Johol. The DKU, chaired by Tuanku Muhriz, subsequently acknowledged the removal and gave its restu. Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan announced it publicly, citing Article 26, Chapter 7 of the State Constitution. Mohd Jan was instructed to vacate Balai Undang Luak Johol in Renggoh, Kuala Pilah.

Mohd Jan, however, did not vacate. By April 2017, more than a year after his removal and after his successor had been formally installed, he was still in residence. The Negeri Sembilan state government, then led by Mohamad Hasan, eventually cut off the water and electricity supply to Balai Undang Luak Johol to compel his departure. The state’s position was straightforward: the residence was government property, attached to the office of the Undang, not to the person.

That precedent is instructive in light of what is unfolding now in Sungei Ujong. The state’s powers over an official residence held by a removed Undang have been tested before, and the authority of the state demonstrated.

The historical significance of the 2016 removal was widely noted in the Malaysian press at the time. Mohd Jan was the first Undang Luak Johol to be removed.

2025/2026: The Sungei Ujong Undang removal

On 17 April 2026, a special sitting of the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU), chaired by Tuanku Muhriz, acknowledged the removal of Mubarak Dohak from the position of Dato' Klana Petra, his removal having occurred under the custom of the Luak as a question of Malay custom under Article 16 of the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959.

Under the constitutional architecture of Negeri Sembilan, the substantive act of removal sits with the Adat institutions of the Luak, not with the DKU. The DKU’s role is to acknowledge and give restu. As Aminuddin pointed out, this followed the same procedural path as the 2016 Johol case: the luak decided, the DKU acknowledged and gave restu.

What happened next has no precedent in either of the previous cases.

Two days after the DKU’s acknowledgement, on 19 April 2026, Mubarak signed and read aloud a public declaration purporting to remove Tuanku Muhriz as the Yang di-Pertuan Besar. He was joined by the three sitting Undangs. They named Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja’afar as their proposed replacement ruler. Within days, all 14 UMNO assemblymen in the Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly announced they were withdrawing support from Aminuddin as Menteri Besar.

On 19 and 29 April, the Telaga Undang of Sungei Ujong, YM Sarifah Norzaidah Al-Qadri, issued statements declaring the “Undang Yang Empat”¹ declaration invalid and closing the Balai to Mubarak. On 30 April, the state government formally directed him to vacate. He has remained there.

Why 2026 will be historic

Over the past three centuries, only two Undangs have been removed.

2016 is remembered because it was the first time an Undang was removed. But 2026 will be historic for what Mubarak and the three Undangs attempted to do.

Footnote:

¹ This publication uses the term "Undang Yang Empat" as shorthand, for the four individuals who signed the 19 April declaration. Mubarak Dohak ceased to hold office as Undang of Luak Sungei Ujong on 17 April 2026, his removal having occurred under the custom of the Luak and acknowledged by the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) under Article 16 of the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959. Under Article 16(3), DKU advice on such questions is final and cannot be challenged in any court.

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