There's no doubt: the current Yang di-Pertuan Agong is extremely popular, even in the far reaches of Sabah and Sarawak, whose inhabitants basked in a regal presence that Peninsular Malaysians sometimes take for granted.
The people's love for Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah is apparent in the just-concluded Kembara Kenali Borneo tour of the two states.
Mammoth crowds lined the streets just for a glimpse of the royal couple. While the novelty of seeing the king and queen in person might be humbling for many, Peninsular Malaysians are more used to seeing the king almost weekly, at least in Pahang and Kuala Lumpur.
The monarch would emerge in the unlikeliest places. Politicians worth their salt, in advancing their careers and having a feel of what dealing with constituents is like, must study the king's ways of making his presence felt.
Public relations outfits should have a thick dossier on the king as part of their training blueprint on how to engage and develop effective public relations with all kinds of people.
It's hard to miss his presence: there he was, stopping his entourage on a highway to inquire about a traffic mishap and the condition of its victims. Then there are his impromptu tours of markets and stalls to rub shoulders with the proletariat and find out how they make ends meet.
If there's a tragedy, you can be sure Al-Sultan Abdullah will be there. As a small example, an express bus plunged into a ravine in his home state and within the hour, he was there to inspect the damage, faster than the politicians.
Thanks to his communications team, which feels the pulse of the nation, His Majesty is facillitated in his commitment of simply being there for the people to comfort and advise, even at the oddest hours.
In his younger days, when Al-Sultan Abdullah was crown prince of Pahang, he was understudy to his father, the late Sultan Ahmad Shah, both as ruler and the seventh king in the early 1980s.
One can then understand what drives the younger monarch to fearlessly go to the ground to deal with commoners. Sultan Ahmad perfected the embodiment of an atypical ruler: hanging out with the crowd and playing hockey with youngsters.
When the late former foreign minister, Tun Ghazali Shafie, was in a light plane crash in 1982, Sultan Ahmad was already the expected presence but so was Al-Sultan Abdullah, who accompanied his father in the search for crash survivors.
A momentous snapshot of the incident was when a weary, bruised but alive Ghazali was hugged by Al-Sultan Abdullah after the politician was found in the Pahang jungles after walking away from the crash. These are the key aspects that compose Al-Sultan Abdullah's people-friendly persona.
Then there's the public service of Al-Sultan Abdullah, who for many years was in the hotseat of Malaysian football. Now, ascending to president of the Football Association of Malaysia may have been a path paved for someone like him, especially after serving as deputy to his father, but that's not the point.
Everyone who understands politics will realise that in taking on the FAM top job, Al-Sultan Abdullah opened himself to problems, complications and criticisms, which he understood as a huge part of the job, sedition laws notwithstanding.
The critics, the then Tengku Mahkota understood, were legion, as many as there are football fans in Malaysia, who strongly feel that if any of them were in his seat, they'd know how to fix Malaysia's footballing ailments.
As a matter of protocol and courtesy, criticisms were never directed to the future king, but Al-Sultan Abdullah knew that every criticism of the national team, he, as FAM president, can't help but be affected by the debris. And that's his charm, being able to absorb judgments and broadsides when it's unbecoming. Al-Sultan Abdullah somehow perfected a way for a monarch to mesh with public life.
But his seminal contribution to public life was probably in November last year, when the general election resulted in a hung Parliament with probable but unappetising solutions. The politicians had time and opportunity to break the deadlock on their own but having failed, it was only then that the king had to intervene.
To break the impasse, Al-Sultan Abdullah decided to take responsibility and after meeting all prime ministerial candidates, he made the decision of a lifetime — putting his faith in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Of course, the rejected candidate howled in protest, even to this day, but like it or not, that's what leadership is all about: the urgency to make the hard choices, knowing it will be contested, even condemned. But the king was aiming for a resolution to enable the nation to progress after weeks of uncertainty.
For that, we thank him. The media won't forget the king's hands-on presence. He met them daily at Istana Negara while waiting for an outcome to the political crisis. The king made it a point to see to the welfare of journalists assembled at the palace, and it was deeply appreciated.
The successful Borneo tour was also Al-Sultan Abdullah's end-of-reign as Yang di-Pertuan Agong. His five-year term expires in January. But the nation will remember him as a good-natured, generous, sporting and kind ruler, one we hope is forever exemplary.
Daulat Tuanku.