KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 ― Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will fly back to Malaysia tonight to pay his last respects to Sultan Perak Sultan Azlan Shah who passed away at 1.30pm today.

Najib will then return to Beijing tomorrow to resume his six-day visit to China.

The official welcome is set for 5pm tomorrow.

Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir announced in a live broadcast on national television earlier today that Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, who just turned 86 last month, passed away at 1.30pm this afternoon.

Zambry also announced a public holiday for Perak tomorrow to enable visitors to pay their last respects to the monarch, who will be lying in state at the palace in Kuala Kangsar before being laid to rest at the Royal Mausoleum in Kuala Kangsar.

Sultan Azlan Shah was the ninth Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia and served the full five-year term and before returning as Sultan of Perak in 1994.

Sultan Azlan is survived by his consort Tuanku Bainun Mohd Ali and four children: Raja Nazrin Shah, currently the Raja Muda of Perak; Raja Datuk Seri Azureen Shah; Raja Eleena; and Raja Yong Sofia.

Another son, Raja Ashman Shah, died of asthma in 2012.