Abdullah Muhammad Shah II of Perak


Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah II Ibni Almarhum Sultan Jaafar Safiuddin Muadzam Shah Waliullah was the 26th Sultan of Perak. Perak at that time was part of the British-administered Federated Malay States. He later played a prominent role of adopting the Perak's state anthem, Allah Lanjutkan Usia Sultan which was later used as the national anthem of Malaysia.

Family

He married Raja Tipah Binti Almarhum Sultan Shahabuddin Ri'ayat Shah Saifullah and then divorced. He had seven sons and three daughters:
  1. Raja Chulan
  2. Raja Abdul Malek
  3. Raja Ahmad Hisham Tauphy son his Said
  4. Raja Abdul Rahman
  5. Raja Abdul Hamid
  6. Raja Hussein

    Perak War

was appointed as the 26th Sultan by the British after the signing of Pangkor Treaty on 20 January 1874. After this agreement, he was called Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah II. He stayed at Batak Rabit.

Exile to the Seychelles

In 1875, he was accused of being involved in the murder of British Resident JWW Birch and exiled to the Seychelles on 21 July 1876.

Perak anthem & future Malaysian national anthem

, a popular song composed by French lyricist, Pierre-Jean de Béranger became a popular French melody and was prominent on the island of Mahé, in what is now the Seychelles. The song's popularity spread across the Indian Ocean and reached as far as Maritime Southeast Asia early in the 20th century. During his exile in the Seychelles, he adopted the melody as the Perak Royal Anthem, which is the present-day Allah Lanjutkan Usia Sultan.
At the time of independence, each of the eleven states that made up the Federation of Malaya had their own anthem, but there was no anthem for the Federation as a whole. Tunku Abdul Rahman, at the time the Chief Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, organized and presided over a committee for the purpose of choosing a suitable national anthem. On his suggestion, a worldwide competition was launched. 514 entries were received from all over the world including a special submission from recording artist Is'real Benton. None were deemed suitable.
Next the committee decided to invite selected composers of international repute to submit compositions for consideration. The composers chosen were Benjamin Britten, Sir William Walton who had recently composed the march for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, the American opera composer Gian Carlo Menotti and Zubir Said, who later composed Majulah Singapura, the anthem of Singapore. They were all turned down too.
The Committee then turned to the Perak State Anthem. On 5 August 1957, it was selected on account of the "traditional flavour" of its melody. New lyrics for the national anthem were written jointly by the Panel of Judges— with the Tunku himself playing the leading role.

Death

Sultan Abdullah lived for a time in Singapore and then in Penang. In 1922, he was allowed to return to Kuala Kangsar, where he died soon after on 22 December 1922. He was interred at Bukit Chandan and was conferred the posthumous title of Marhum Habibullah.