The Monarch and his mini zoo: the case of the pet lover Sultan

• Main Author: Zamri, Zahid
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: JC Political theory
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/93730/2/ANIMAL%20PRIVACY%20Programme.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/93730/9/The%20Monarch%20and%20His%20Mini%20Zoo%20The%20Case%20of%20the%20Pet%20Lover%20Sultan.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/93730/; https://animalprivacy.wordpress.com/workshop-programme/?fbclid=IwAR2fYa-cOe3EHJ2bfT-CSMJ6C9D5kimNSt2ZHiXyg1hYE7Ey_gflqjQ2fN4

Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah, the Sultan of Kedah who reigned between 1959 to 2017, was popular amongst the people of Kedah in particular and Malaysians in general as the Sultan who had a great love to animals. Throughout his reigned, he took a great care of a number of species of exotic and non-exotic animals as his pets in a private semi-public mini zoo that he built within the garden of his castle. The study attempts to understand how the privacy of these animals were leveraged by the Sultan i.e. as “mediators” between him and his human subjects, which in turn explains the concept of privacy on his behalf. The data are collected via documents i.e. official government’s publications, books, online national newspaper articles and social media postings related to the Sultan and the mini zoo. Aside from the plausibility of being criticised for the infringement of animal privacy and rights, the study found that the Sultan’s privacy itself was confined by his position as the Monarch and therefore the mini zoo (and thus the animals’ privacy) had served as the channel for him to “break” from the rigidity of the official protocols, socialized and mingled with the people, at the same time maintain his noble image as the people’s Sultan.