Istana Negara

This guide to Istana Negara explains Malaysia's rotating monarchy, in which nine sultans take turns as national king for five-year terms decided by vote rather than bloodline. It traces the palace's construction from 2007 to its 2011 opening, the twenty-two domes modelled on beetle-leaf patterns, and the 2012 installation of King Abdul Halim of Kedah as its first resident monarch, keris in hand. Listen for how the guide reads the building's scale as a statement about a throne built to be given back.