Personal Life
As a youth, Tunku Mahmud qualified as a pilot, having trained in handling light and medium aircraft and helicopters. He was also apt in handling motorcycles, reportedly possessing the skills to strip a motorcycle down to its component parts and then reassembling it.
The Sultan is also well known for his passion in many types of open-air sports, especially golf. In his later years, he spent much of his free time at the Royal Johor Country Club. In addition, he also played tennis and squash on a regular basis. Within private circles, Sultan Iskandar was fondly known as "Moody", a testimony to his first name "Mahmud." His son, Tunku Abdul Majid, inherited his interest in amateur golf and once served as the President of the Malaysian Golf Association.
He is involved in the 1988 Malaysian Constitution crisis which the then prime minister Mahathir Mohammad used his killing of an innocent caddy with a golf club as a leverage to hijack the Malaysian judiciary system by sacking the then Lord of President of the Federal Court of Malaysia (Now known as Chief Justice of Malaysia), Tun Haji Mohamed Salleh bin Abas in an effort to claim his political success.
In addition, he kept a large collection of pets, particularly peacocks, at his Istana Bukit Serene compound, where he lived with the Sultanah. In his youth, Tunku Iskandar resided at Istana Bukit Coombe, located at the top of Coombe Hill. It was built upon Dutch architectural designs, and was later renamed Istana Bukit Iskandar. The palace was later demolished in 1987, six years after Sultan Iskandar succeeded his late father as Sultan.
Read more about this topic: Iskandar Of Johor
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