KUALA LUMPUR: Sultan of Terengganu Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin today presided over the 258th Meeting of the Conference of Rulers at Istana Negara here.

Before the meeting started at 11 am, Sultan Mizan took the salute at a Grand Guard of Honour (KKU) mounted by the First Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment at the palace's Main Square.

Sultan Mizan also planted a Terengganu Cherry (Lepisanthes alata) tree in the palace's garden as an indisputable symbol of the Sultan of Terengganu presiding over the 258th edition of the meeting.

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah also graced the planting of the tree.

The KKU and the tree-planting initiatives were mooted by Sultan Abdullah and had never been done before his appointment as Malaysia's 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The KKU was first mounted at the 254th edition of the meeting, while the tree-planting initiative was introduced at the 255th meeting.

The two-day meeting is being attended by all the Malay rulers except Kelantan, Pahang and Johor.

The rulers are the Raja of Perlis Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail, Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah, Yang Dipertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Tuanku Muhriz Almarhum Tuanku Munawir and Sultan of Kedah Al Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Sultan Badlishah.

Pahang is being represented by the Regent of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah, while Kelantan is represented by Crown Prince Tengku Dr Muhammad Faiz Petra Sultan Ismail Petra.

Also in attendance are the Governors of Penang, Melaka, Sabah and Sarawak.

All the rulers are accompanied by their respective Menteri Besar and Governors by their Chief Ministers, except for the Governor of Sarawak who was accompanied by the Deputy Premier.

The last meeting of the Conference of Rulers was held on Nov 24-25 last year and was presided by Sultan of Kedah Al Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Sultan Badlishah.

-- BERNAMA