What’s In A Dato?
It’s easy to give and its also easy to take back.
That was what His Majesty the DYMM Sultan of Johor did when he took back the 2 honorifics of DPMJ (title of Dato) and SPMJ (title of Dato Seri) from Chua Jui Meng (ex Vice President of MCA).
I’m not going to write about the political affiliations of Chua in this article but I just wanted to speculate on what the Sultan was going through in his head that warrant such a drastic move of stripping a person of his honours.
The Palace in a seperate statement did mention the fact that His Majesty is now reviewing all prior conferments and will adhere all future awards to a set of strict rules of conduct.
Among the rules include: good standing as a citizen, exceptional performance as a subject, great contribution to society and nation.
I salute Sultan Ibrahim for setting the record straight and that His Majesty is putting the rules to work himself after his ascension to the Johor Throne. This will in no small way return the former glory, prestige and meaning of being a Dato from a Royal State.
Among the plenty, there’s now honour to being a Dato’ from the State of Johor. I can’t say that of other states (or at least some of them).
There’s also concern that athletes whom have contributed to the nation be awarded honorifics after their retirement. So I’m all for Soh Chin Aun and Misbun Sidek being confered the Dato’ship. But why in the like of Lee Chong Wei and Nicol Davids. Both are still in their twenties, why the hurry?
And what about Chef Wan, why is he a Dato’ also? Any connection to any other things?
My humble opinion as a subject of the Malay Rulers … the other Royal Highnesses may want to emulate the bold action of Sultan of Johor in restoring the “glory of the title”.
Then it means something to be a Dato’. Otherwise the street is full of them, by then it would be more prestigious to be called “Encik”. At least that was the feeling during the administration of Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Razak’s time.
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