Sunday, November 05, 2017

Datukship (4)

At a mere 29 and furthermore with a dubious reputation, that of a rich brat, Nicky Liow is a Datuk Seri. He has just gotten into a heap of trouble with the police and MACC recently.


At such an age and with his dodgy records, how the f**ks did he receive a Malaysian knighthood and from which state?

I have written the following before but it may be worthwhile regurgitating them again, with some new amendments, wakakaka:

A rather frequently told joke in Malaysia about datukship is that if one were to spit in a crowded place, there is a high probability that one's expectoration would hit at least three datuks, wakakaka.

There is also a state in Malaysia which has been reputed to churn out datukships like nobody's business, wakakaka, but alas, there is a market for the title so the datukship factory springs into action willingly to meet market requirements.

But in contrast to European nobility, we Malaysians certainly live up or, rather, down to our favourite national cry of Malaysia Boleh, in honouring even criminal hoodlums with knighthoods, wakakaka.

And guess who should we blame for this?

It's may be worthwhile following Dr Mahathir's example by blaming, as a start, foreigners specifically the British, wakakaka, or if we can't them, then let's blame our normal punching bag, the local Chinese.

Nonetheless, the allure of a knighthood, perhaps the glamour and recognition associated with it, has been irresistible for many Malaysians.

But more practical than mere snobbery and/or social glamour, some business-people (of all races) want such a title because it 'opens doors' to exclusive business circles for them, in the same way those business-people apply desperately for memberships to some very exclusive and very expensive 'elite' social-entertainment-sports (golfing-horse riding) clubs.

They want to be in the 'correct' crowd for business deals, contracts, the sort of money-making stuff which in Malaysia would be easier to secure when in the right company - not necessarily at the very top level but just where a datukship title could make some decent social impact and acceptability, and thus be useful to their business enterprise, wakakaka.

Thus there is also a practical element to being a datuk. It's not just for syiok-ness alone.

Given above, we shouldn't be surprised that the associated glitz, glitter, glamour (and business profit) of being a datuk have even motivated some people to foolishly pay for one from a so-called Sultan Kudarat of Mindanao, wakakaka.

The point I want to make is that many (though obviously not all) Malaysians would like to be a datuk, no matter how much they may profess republican proclivities or pretend they aren't interested.

The other and far more important political aspect of the datukship story is the adverse political-ethnic-social-cultural impact for some Chinese and Indian politicians (specifically those in the DAP) of NOT accepting one when so honoured by a ruler, and not to emulate, in the case of the British system, author HG Wells, playwright George Bernard Shaw, actor Paul Scofield, and many more who declined the knighthood awards.

The Malay community would consider that declination of a royal award as a humongous disrespectful snub to the ruler by a f**king biadap-ish Cinapek or Keling.

While it's okay to decline a knighthood in Britain or other Western Commonwealth countries, it's very unwise to do so in our race & 'ampun-tuanku' conscious society, especially for a Chinaman.

By deferentially accepting the sultan's honours, the recipient would be sending a message that he or she (like republican Sean Connery) is deeply respectful of royalty.

This point was raised by the DAP ADUN for Sekinchan Selangor, Ng Suee Lim, as he was deeply concerned that DAP politician, in not accepting datukships as per (but now-cancelled) party policy, could be maliciously mis-portrayed by the other side of politics (specifically UMNO) as being anti royalty and thus, anti Malay.


Ng Suee Lim 

As we all know, our honours award system is highly prone to corruption where I have early mentioned that at times, unfortunately, money passes hands to get one.

There is also another unpleasant factor. For this one, it's not so much corruption per se but look, when a datukship is awarded willy nilly to some people, the effect could, would be and has been seen as grossly unfair or abused.

And talking about willy nilly excesses, where we heard just last year a 19-year old was made a datuk.


But we need to be aware that regarding the honour awards, the rulers and YDN have only a minor role, namely, to consent to the list of proposed to-be datuks, Tan Sris and Tuns.

In the case of a state ruler, yes, there is a slim possibility that he could well be difficult and either tell the PM or Menteri Besar to f* off with the list or more politely, declare he won't award a datukship to, say, kaytee, wakakaka. But this would be very rare and only if the state ruler is very headstrong, wakakaka again.

So, the politicians who nominate and propose the awards are to be blamed for making gangsters, crooks and a 19-year old into datuks, for they (and their cohorts) would be the ones recommending candidates for awards, and vetting and approving the final list for the Agong, ruler or YDP to accept. Thus it's down at the lil' Napoleons' level where corruption takes place.

I have mentioned this before that it's time to consider the necessity of stripping a Datuk (or Tan Sri or even Tun, wakakaka) of his or her title when he/she has been found guilty of committing a crime or a disgraceful act.

Look, we've came across stories of Datuks who committed crimes of one sort or another and who went into prison but emerged still as datuks, with their awards totally intact. I wonder how the wardens addressed those criminal-datuks?

OK, some examples - naturally first on the list by virtue of his so-called fame (or notoriety) would be Anwar Ibrahim. Should he be stripped of his title?

I can hear tumultuous shouts of outraged protests from his adorers and supporters because they believe he has been framed for his crime of sodomy, a felon in Malaysia.

Then there was Datuk Harun Idris, a former MB of Selangor, who was once touted as a potential PM of Malaysia. Whether he had a direct inciting role in the May 13 riot remains an area of intense debate until today. Some Chinese called him a saint while others (Chinese) saw/see him as a devil. He left us for a better place. Al Fatihah.

There was another Datuk from Seremban who was sentenced to death for murdering another UMNO man who bonked his sister, but he was eventually pardoned. What about his Datukship?

Shouldn't they all be stripped of their datukships as Khir Toyo was of his when he went to prison for corruption?

Then there are still those who have been awarded Tan Sri's despite either committing a seditious act or low class crime when they should have been imprisoned - 'nuff said about the respectability of the federal awards.

Now, Najib Razak, Azmin Ali and Mahathir Mohamad have royal awarded titles. Say (hypothetically of course) if any of the three were to be arrested and imprisoned, then we wonder whether our society or royalty will act dunno again (except in the case of Khir Toyo, who incidentally, like the rumours about Moody, has remarried after being released, but to a Chinese sweetie - Congratulations, ex-Datuk).

But apart from instituting a remedying system to maintain the dignity of the honours award system, it's not just a matter of by stripping criminals of their datukship but far more importantly, also limiting the annual conferment of datuks.

HRH of states of course will exercise their royal prerogatives to award datukships to whoever they want, but the Royal Council of Rulers should consider this issue, in the same way the federal award of Tun-ship is limited to only 35 (or is it 50?).

All past PM with the sole exception of our first PM, our beloved Tunku Abdul Rahman, was conferred the title of Tun. I wonder when Ah Jib Gor will get his, wakakaka.

One final point, with all respect to their HRHs, ampun tuanku's, I wonder why on each state's annual awards, HRH of each state would confer very high honours to the members of their own family or to fellow royalty? This has always puzzled me!

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1 comment:

  1. In the land of the bolehs,money talks.So a datukship can be bought.Gangsters and felons who have already served their times have datukships.Then they go rob,rape,kill or beat up people.When these animals are caught by the law,then all came out that this fellow here and there are datuks.These last two years how many gang taikors are snared by the cops?Dozens.Even the previous IGP and his officers have cell phone nos of gangsters too.Go figure.

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