A crisis for Malaysia's constitutional monarchy, involving the government as well as the rulers of the country's nine royal households, was averted yesterday with the unprecedented resignation of Kelantan Sultan Muhammad V as the king, or the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as he is officially called.

But the appointment of a new monarch in the coming weeks by the Conference of Rulers still leaves open the prospect of tensions between the sultans and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government.