… Following the Malaya War (1964-1967), the
Sultanate of Pahang, that had lost its independence to become part of the Federated Malay States in 1895, recovered its sovereignty on 8 August 1967, along with the other Malay kingdoms, this time as a member of the Sphere of Co-Prosperity and under strong Japanese influence.
The largest state in the Malaysian peninsula, Pahang was able to thrive thanks to tourism and agrarian exports as a developing state : however, the will for an united Malaysia continued to be strong, due to opposition to Japanese imperialism and the dissolute behavior of Sultan Abu Bakar. Due to internal agitation, Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein instated a state of emergency in 1969, that would never be lifted in 40 years, suspending the Constitution and granting the Menteri Besar absolute powers.
Sultan Abu Bakar was succeeded by his son Ahmad Shah in 1974 and Abdul Razak Hussein as Menteri Besar by his own son, Najib Razak in 1976; both would rule as the uncontested rules of Pahang until 2009. After the fall of the Empire of Japan, Pahang continued its trajectory as an emerging country, but had to deal with a renewed Pan-Malay movement, mostly after the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Malaya on its northern border in 1994.
40 years of dictatorship and economic downturns as Pahang was sidelined by the new masters of the Asian scene (China, Australia and Indochina) made the little country very isolated and on 1 August 2009, after months of saber-rattling, Malaya invaded Pahang. The little conflict, that caught all states in Malaya by surprise, lasted for one month : both the Sultan and the Menteri Besar fled to exile in Japan, while Pahang was integrated into the Islamic Republic of Malaya on 3 September 2009.
Ever since, islamic law was largely accepted, after internal reforms were enacted in 2015 after some violent protests that made 46 dead, but Pahangese fortunes went downhill, due to the relative isolation of Malaya…