Who Are the New Undangs of Sungei Ujong and Rembau?
Faris Johari and Hassan Ab Hamid were formally installed at Istana Besar Seri Menanti on 27 June 2026.
On Saturday, 27 June 2026, two of Negeri Sembilan's four Luak completed the customary installation of new chiefs. In the morning at Istana Besar Seri Menanti, Muhammad Faris Johari, 28, was installed as the 11th Undang of Luak Sungei Ujong and conferred the title Datuk Klana Petra.
In the afternoon, Hassan Ab Hamid, 67, a retired teacher from the Biduanda Sedia Raja clan of Kampung Tanjong, was installed as the 22nd Undang of Luak Rembau with the title Datuk Sedia Raja (Free Malaysia Today, 27 June 2026).
The selections themselves are acts of the Luak, settled through the kerapatan and muafakat of the relevant adat houses and marked at the Luak level, by the proclamation of the chosen candidate.
The role performed at Seri Menanti is to give those selections their formal ceremonial eexpression, the point at which a candidate chosen by his Luak is openly recognised before the state.
What happened at Seri Menanti on 27 June?
Each ceremony took the form of an Istiadat Mengadap, the audience at which a chief chosen by his Luak presents himself before the Yang di-Pertuan Besar and is then installed as Undang (Sinar Harian, 27 June 2026).
The Sungei Ujong ceremony opened with the Orang Empat Istana seeking the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir to begin, after which Faris Johari paid homage and pledged his allegiance before being proclaimed the 11th Undang (Free Malaysia Today, 27 June 2026).
The Rembau ceremony followed the same afternoon, with Hassan Ab Hamid received in audience by Tuanku Muhriz and installed as Undang Luak Rembau. The ceremony was witnessed by the Tunku Ampuan Besar Tuanku Aishah Rohani, the Tunku Besar Seri Menanti Tunku Ali Redhauddin, the Tunku Panglima Besar Tunku Zain Al-’Abidin, and Menteri Besar Aminuddin Harun (Sinar Harian, 27 June 2026; Scoop, 27 June 2026).
In his address, Tuanku Muhriz described the office as a trust arising from adat consensus, to be carried with responsibility and sincerity, and said any disputes should be managed through diplomacy and a spirit of muafakat (concensus). (Free Malaysia Today, 27 June 2026).
What did the royal audience on 25 June settle?
The path to Saturday ran through an audience two days earlier. On Thursday 25 June, delegations of Adat leaders from both Luak were received at Istana Besar Seri Menanti by Tunku Besar Seri Menanti Tunku Ali Redhauddin, who conveyed the consent of his father, the Yang di-Pertuan Besar, for the installation ceremonies to proceed on 27 June.
For Sungei Ujong, the Luak was represented by Waris Negeri Datuk Sinda Maharaja Razlan Hamid (Malaysiakini, 25 June 2026).
For Rembau, the chairman of the Kerapatan Buapak Delapan Kampung, Datuk Juan Datuk Zulkipli Shamsudin, stated that Hassan Ab Hamid had been selected through two rounds of kerapatan that settled on Kampung Tanjong as the kampung benih, the lineage from which the candidate is drawn (Malay Mail, 25 June 2026).
The order of that process is worth stating precisely.
The Luak chooses its candidate, obtains consent to hold the istiadat, and then brings him before the throne to be installed.
As the Adat saying has it:
“Adat diisi, janji dilabuh”, every requirement of Adat must be filled in turn and the promise properly anchored
What comes next?
A kerjan, the customary celebration held at the new Undang’s residence to mark the appointment, is still to follow, and a date for it has yet to be confirmed in either Luak.
An Undang of Negeri Sembilan is made one rung at a time, from the kerapatan of the Luak to the istiadat at Seri Menanti.
On 19 April, the “Undang Yang Empat”1 tried to depose the Yang di-Pertuan Besar. By 27 June, two of their seats had passed to other men.
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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.
