Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor will be undergoing a six-hour heart surgery in the United States this Saturday and is expected to be admitted for treatment for about three weeks.

sultan sharafuddin sultan of selangor He will be undergoing the surgery and follow-up treatment at the Stanford University Medical Centre, Palo Alto, San Fransisco, California. The sultan will be 64 in December.

Selangor state secretary Ramli Mahmud revealed this today at a press conference at the state secretariat in Shah Alam.

He said that the sultan's condition was serious and that the ruler was frail and weak.

"The sultan left to Singapore last night and this morning at 9am he would have flown to San Francisco," he said.

He said that the sultan would be treated by cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Alan Yeung and mitral valve specialist Prof Dr Craig Miller, both from the Stanford University Medical Centre.

The press conference was also attended by the sultan's private secretary Mohamad Munir Bani.

selangor royal palace official pc on sultan sharafuddin health 290409 02 Ramli also said that the sultan was accompanied to the US by his brother Tengku Indera Setia Selangor Tengku Ahmad Shah, Sime Darby Medical Centre specialist Dr Anuar Masduki, two royal household officials and two of the sultan's friends.

He added that this was the first heart surgery to be performed on the sultan.

He urged the people of Selangor not to be worried over the sultan's condition and asked them to pray for the ruler's recovery.

"I also ask the Selangor religious department to seek the cooperation of the mosques and surau in the state to offers prayers for the sultan for the duration of his stay in the hospital," he added.

No regent to be appointed

He also said that no one has been appointed to take over the duties of the sultan during his absence.

"It is not needed as an appointment of a regent would only be necessary if the sultan were to be away from duties for more than 30 days," he said.

Sultan Sharafuddin is the ninth ruler of Selangor and ascended the throne on Nov 21, 2001 following the death of his father, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah.

sultan sharafuddin idris shah selangor sultan and his royal family tengku amir shah tengku zerafina tengku zatashah 290409 Before that he was the regent of Selangor from 1999 where his father died while serving as Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Sultan Sharafuddin has two daughters, Tengku Zerafina and Tengku Zatashah from his first marriage to a Malay royal.

His second marriage to an American gave him a son, Tengku Amir Shah who was made the Raja Muda of Selangor in March 2002 at the age of 11, making him the Malay royalty's youngest crown prince.

The sultan is currently divorced and without a consort.