Posts share fabricated quote credited to Malaysian king

Published on July 29, 2025 at 11:09
2 min read
By AFP Malaysia

Malaysian authorities have rejected a fabricated statement that was attributed to the country's king in social media posts about the Islamic world being deceived by its leaders. The Royal Press Office branded the posts "fake" and there are no credible Malaysian media reports about the purported statement.

"Well Said. 'The Islamic world is not weak... but rather deceived by leaders who sold its causes to the Zionists for a cheap price.' Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar," reads an X post on July 16, 2025.

It includes a photo of Malaysia's king Sultan Ibrahim, who was sworn in in January 2024 (archived link). Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement that sees the throne change hands every five years between the rulers of nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty.

Screenshot of the false X post captured on July 28, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The quote was attributed to the Johor state ruler elsewhere on Facebook, Instagram, and X and ricocheted among social media users in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh.

Some social media users appeared to believe the posts shared a genuine statement from the Malaysian king.

"You spoke the truth sir," one user wrote, while another commented: "So true".

A keyword search on Google found a statement from the Royal Press Office posted on Sultan Ibrahim's official Facebook page on July 19, branding posts sharing the quote as "fake" (archived link).

"The public is advised to exercise caution and not be easily influenced by statements spread through these fake accounts," read the Malay-language post.

Screenshot of Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar's Facebook post taken on July 28, 2025

The Kuala Lumpur Department of Information also shared the same statement on its Twitter page on July 20 (archived link).

As of July 29, there have been no credible reports by Malaysian media outlets about the king making any such statement.

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