Why Do Several Wikipedia Pages Now Call the Undangs ‘Rajas’ of Negeri Sembilan?
Four Undang pages cite Article 160(2) to call each Undang a ‘Raja’. The clause interprets a term rather than conferring title or constitutional rank.
A line has settled across the Malay Wikipedia entries for the four Luak chieftainships.
Each one now opens by describing its Undang as the “pemerintah atau Raja”, the ruler or Raja, of Negeri Sembilan, and each anchors that description to Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution. The wording recurs, almost word for word, on the pages for Sungei Ujong, Jelebu, Johol, and Rembau.
Undang Luak Sungei Ujong, Negeri Sembilan adalah Pemerintah atau Raja bagi Luak Sungei Ujong, Negeri Sembilan. Perkara ini termaktub sebagaimana di dalam perkara 160 (2). Gelaran bagi jawatan ini ialah Ke Bawah Kaus Yang Teramat Mulia Dato’ Klana Petra, Undang Luak Sungei Ujong. Dato’ Undang Luak Sungei Ujong adalah Dato’ Undang yang paling kanan diantara Undang yang Empat. Perlembagaan Persekutuan berkenaan takrif “Raja” bagi Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus dan Luak (Negeri) Sungei Ujong, Luak Sungei Ujong merupakan salah satu daripada luak yang membentuk Negeri Sembilan.
Translation: The Undang of Luak Sungei Ujong, Negeri Sembilan, is the Ruler or Raja of Luak Sungei Ujong, Negeri Sembilan. This is enshrined as set out in Article 160(2). The title of the office is Ke Bawah Kaus Yang Teramat Mulia Dato’ Klana Petra, Undang of Luak Sungei Ujong. The Dato’ Undang of Luak Sungei Ujong is the most senior among the four Undangs (paling kanan, literally the rightmost). The reference is to the Federal Constitution and the definition of “Raja” for Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus and the territory of Sungei Ujong. Luak Sungei Ujong is one of the Luak that form Negeri Sembilan.
Undang Luak Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan adalah Pemerintah atau Raja sebagaimana perkara 160(2) Perlembagaan Persekutuan berkenaan takrif “Raja” bagi Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus dan Luak Jelebu. Luak (Negeri) Jelebu merupakan salah satu daripada luak yang membentuk Negeri Sembilan. Dato’ Undang Luak Jelebu bergelar Yang Teramat Mulia Dato’ Mendika Menteri Akhirulzaman Sultan Jelebu.
Translation: The Undang of Luak Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, is the Ruler or Raja under Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution, concerning the definition of “Raja” for Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus and Luak Jelebu. The territory of Jelebu is one of the Luak that form Negeri Sembilan. The Dato’ Undang of Luak Jelebu holds the title Yang Teramat Mulia Dato’ Mendika Menteri Akhirulzaman Sultan Jelebu.
Undang Luak Johol, Negeri Sembilan merupakan Pembesar Memerintah dan Raja bersama bagi Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus sebagaimana diperuntukkan di bawah Fasal 2 Perkara 160 Perlembagaan Persekutuan serta Perkara 28 Undang-Undang Tubuh Kerajaan Negeri Sembilan berhubung takrif “Raja” atau Pemerintah (Ruler) bagi Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus dan Luak Johol.
Translation: The Undang of Luak Johol, Negeri Sembilan, is a Ruling Magnate (Pembesar Memerintah) and joint Raja (Raja bersama) for Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus, as provided under Clause 2 of Article 160 of the Federal Constitution and Article 28 of the Constitution of the State of Negeri Sembilan, concerning the definition of “Raja” or Ruler for Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus and Luak Johol.
Undang Luak Rembau Negeri Sembilan ialah pemerintah atau Raja di Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Jawatan ini termaktub dalam perkara 160(2) Perlembagaan Persekutuan berkenaan takrif “Raja” bagi Negeri Sembilan dan Luak Rembau. Luak Rembau merupakan salah satu daripada luak yang membentuk Negeri Sembilan.
Translation: The Undang of Luak Rembau, Negeri Sembilan, is the ruler or Raja in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. This office is enshrined in Article 160(2) of the Federal Constitution, concerning the definition of “Raja” for Negeri Sembilan and Luak Rembau. Luak Rembau is one of the Luak that form Negeri Sembilan.
These Wikipedia pages are protected and cannot be edited
The four Undang pages are currently protected, which means that they are closed to editing by ordinary users. For example, the Undang of Sungei Ujong page cites “perang sunting” (edit war), or protection against vandalism, and the page is protected from editing until 14 August 2026.
The question to ask is who wants it protected from editing and why?
A protected page is not a sealed one. The talk page attached to each article remains open, and a reader can post a sourced correction there for an editor to action. The proper route for the “Raja” wording would be an edit request on the talk page citing Article 7(1) of the state Constitution, rather than an edit to the article itself.
There is a wider lesson in all of this for anyone following the dispute. An open-edit encyclopaedia is a convenient summary but a poor authority, particularly on a contested question of constitutional rank during a live dispute, where a single sentence can harden into a citation faster than it can be checked.
Where is rank actually set?
Rank sits in the state instrument, the Negeri Sembilan Constitution 1959.
Article 7(1) provides for a Yang di-Pertuan Besar to exercise the functions and powers of a Ruler and to “take precedence over all other persons in the State”.
That text seats the office above every other in Negeri Sembilan, the Undangs among them. Articles 28 and 40(2) then identify seven specific matters in which the concurrence of the Undangs is required. The Constitution assigns them defined constitutional prerogatives in that way, by express exception, rather than by recognising them as co-equal sovereign rulers.
Read together, the texts describe a hierarchy with the Yang di-Pertuan Besar at its head and the Undangs as Ruling Chiefs holding defined prerogatives within their Luak.
Why do the Undangs keep quoting Article 160(2)?
The Undangs’ claim rests on a single clause, Article 160(2) in the Federal Constitution.
This issue has been covered in two earlier pieces written by this publication, Undangs Are Not Co-Rulers With Equal Status and Power, and The Co-Ruler Debate, Reignited.
But, let’s go through it again.
Article 160(2) defines “Ruler” for Negeri Sembilan as “the Yang di-Pertuan Besar acting on behalf of himself and the Ruling Chiefs in accordance with the Constitution of that State”.
The provision identifies the Yang di-Pertuan Besar as the constitutional “Ruler” for federal purposes, and specifies that he acts on behalf of himself and the Ruling Chiefs in accordance with the Negeri Sembilan State Constitution.
It defines how the term “Ruler” is to operate within the Federal Constitution rather than conferring an independent royal title on each Undang.
Had the drafters of the Federal Constitution meant to make each Undang a Raja in his own right, they would have used the language to say so.
Instead, they identified a single constitutional Ruler for federal purposes, the Yang di-Pertuan Besar, acting on behalf of himself and the Ruling Chiefs.
Does an interpretation clause confer a title?
Article 160 carries the heading “Interpretation”, and its operative language assigns the meanings “hereby respectively assigned to them” to words used elsewhere in the document.
Its function is to define terms so that the rest of the Constitution can be read consistently. A definitional clause of that kind determines the meaning of a term wherever it appears in the Constitution, and it leaves the creation of offices, the conferral of titles, and the setting of rank to whichever provisions establish them expressly.
The titles themselves point the same way. The Undang of Sungei Ujong holds the style Dato’ Klana Petra, and his counterparts in Jelebu, Johol, and Rembau carry the titles of pembesar, of territorial chiefs.
The style reserved to the head of the State is Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang di-Pertuan Besar. The same distinction also appears in traditional usage, rather than arising from any statute.
The Adat draws the same line in its perbilangan (customary maxims), a point the historian Mohd Arof Ishak set out and Faisal Tehrani quoted in his FMT column (Free Malaysia Today, 14 May 2026).
“Sultan juga membawa maksud yang serupa. Perbilangan adatnya nyata melahirkan kefahaman dan perbezaan ini: raja bertitah (yakni, dengan dekri/perintah), manakala Undang bersabda (memberikan nasihat dan persetujuan, hanya dengan apa-apa yang disepakati bersama-sama Balai Nan Panjang/Lembaga Nan Lapan). Di Luak Jelebu, Undang tidak berkuasa atau berkedudukan seperti raja atau sultan.”
Translation: “The word Sultan carries a similar meaning. Its Adat perbilangan (customary maxim) plainly gives rise to this understanding and distinction: the raja issues titah (that is, by decree or command), whereas the Undang gives sabda (offering advice and consent, only on whatever is agreed together with the Balai Nan Panjang / Lembaga Nan Lapan). In Luak Jelebu, the Undang holds no power or standing like a raja or a sultan.”
The verbs differ because the offices differ.
How to look at the Wikipedia edits
The record behind these Wiki pages stays open even where the editing does not, since every change and every protection action is logged publicly, which lets any reader open a page's history (lihat sejarah) and protection log and see for themselves who changed the text, and which administrator applied the lock.
The answer to who is Raja in Negeri Sembilan is not found in a Wikipedia article.
It is found in the Negeri Sembilan Constitution.
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Related Articles:
Sources:
The Laws of the Constitution of Negeri Sembilan 1959 (Negeri Sembilan State Government)
Federal Constitution (Reprint 2020), Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia
Menyanggah si ‘pakar adat’ dalam sebuah podkas, Faisal Tehrani (Free Malaysia Today), 14 May 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.
