KUALA LUMPUR: Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has returned back to his home country and was in a “good condition”, Malaysian premier Anwar Ibrahim said late on Tuesday.
Sultan Hassanal was admitted to hospital in Kuala Lumpur a week ago due to fatigue, though his office had insisted the world’s longest-serving monarch was in “good health”.
Anwar said he visited the sultan Tuesday afternoon “before he departed for Bandar Seri Begawan,“ the oil-rich state’s capital.
“Praise be to God, His Majesty is in good condition and the recovery process went well after (he was) discharged,“ Anwar posted on Facebook.
The 78-year-old sultan was in Kuala Lumpur for a summit with other Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders.
A statement from the Brunei prime minister’s office — a position held by the sultan — last week said the monarch had been feeling tired and that Malaysian health experts had advised him to rest for a few days at the National Heart Institute.
Sultan Hassanal ascended the throne in 1967.
He is one of the richest people on the planet, and comes from a family that has ruled Brunei, a small Muslim nation perched on the north of the tropical island of Borneo, for more than 600 years.
His decades ruling Brunei have seen the country gain full independence from Britain and living standards soar to among the highest globally.
But his reign has also been marked by controversies including the introduction of tough Islamic laws legislating penalties such as severing of limbs and death by stoning.
