The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V on Thursday (Aug 30) cancelled the Sept 9 official birthday celebrations and the royal tea reception.
In a statement, Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz said that other functions on the day, however, will go on as planned.
“Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V would like to thank the government, through the Prime Minister’s Department, which had planned official functions in conjunction with the ruler’s birthday this year.
“However, the ceremonial birthday function and the royal tea party, which were supposed to be held on Sept 9 at Istana Negara, have been cancelled.
“Sultan Muhammad V has also commanded that the funds allocated for the two official functions, be returned to the government and be channelled to Tabung Harapan,” said Wan Ahmad Dahlan.
Earlier, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that the government was looking at ending contributions to the Tabung Harapan Malaysia fund “maybe next month”.
The fund was launched on May 30 to enable Malaysians to make donations to reduce the country’s national debt level. The collection stands at RM179.9 million as of 30 August.