KUANTAN: Tengku Mahkota of Pahang Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has said that his role as the Regent of Pahang is to assist his father Sultan Ahmad Shah to look after the well-being of the people.
Tengku Abdullah, who will complete his first year since his appointment as the Regent of Pahang next month, said he does not want to overshadow his father but to continue to ensure the people are always taken care.
"Although it is challenging, I do not see it as a problem but a responsibility which I love to do genuinely.
"When we help others, we need to do it wholeheartedly from A to Z (from the beginning till the end). This is something I will always emphasise and tell my children, to follow in the footsteps of my father and grandfather (the late Sultan Abu Bakar)," he said in his speech after launching a coffee-table book titled Mutiara Mahkota: Tengku Abdullah al-Haj in conjunction with Universiti Malaysia Pahang's (UMP) 12th convocation dinner on Friday night.
Tengku Abdullah said at first he was a little sceptical to allow UMP to publish a book on himself as he felt it was not suitable.
"I felt that there was still time but UMP showed a lot of interest in producing the book, along with images taken during my younger days," he said.
Tengku Abdullah described that seeing the images from the coffee-table book was alike to taking a trip down memory lane as he remembered the days which he treasured in his life.
"I was appointed as the Tengku Mahkota when I was 14 years old in 1974 and later at the age of 21, I was appointed as the Regent of Pahang when my father was appointed as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. I had to face the people and politicians but learnt a lot from various individuals who provided me with various advice and views," he said.
Also present at the function was Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob and UMP's vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Daing Nasir Ibrahim.
The 280-page coffee-table book includes exclusive photographs captured during Tengku Abdullah's primary and secondary school days.
The commemorative book by UMP consists of some 200 images including those taken during Tengku Abdullah's younger days at SK Ahmad in Pekan, SK Saint Thomas, and SMK Saint Thomas here.
Daing said the book, dedicated to Tengku Abdullah, was a compilation of text and images following three years of in-depth research about the ruler's life.
He said the contents of the book are presented in six special chapters, namely Warisan Leluhur Berzaman, Putera Cendekia Perkasa, Cergas Tangkas, Citra Wibawa, Waris Ganti and Tuanku Canselor.
"The contents are interestingly expressed using a contemporary creative writing technique called zine and the specialty of this book is also a set of 36 poems titled "Syair Tengku Mahkota" which is specifically composed at the beginning of the six chapters.
"The book includes an exclusive collection of photos which is being published for the first time for the public," he said in his speech.
