Saturday, October 11, 2008

Movie Stars Can Claim Datukship

In Malaysia, a person who has contributed significantly to the welfare of the nation would stand a chance of being recognised by the state government or the federal government, depending on the nature of contribution.

Recognition could come in the form of receiving honorary titles such Datuk, Datuk Seri, Tan Sri or Tun. Equivalent of a Tan Sri is the knighthood in United Kingdom ("UK") where the title is known as Sir. In rare cases, one would receive the Tunship, equivalent to a Lordship in UK.

As for a Datukship in Malaysia, it's supposed to be highly regarded. With the latest bestowing of this title to an individual who's a movie star in the land of India, in my humble opinion, it will downgrade the title.

Shah Rukh Khan, the indian actor to die for for many Malaysian ladies, would be bestowed with a Datukship. One would question his contribution(s) to our nation in entitlement for the honorary title of Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka (DMSM) to be awarded by the Malacca State Government.

In questioning the state government for the reason, the Malacca Chief Minister's political secretary Saadon Basirun gave this superb reason:-

*he was awarded the title for his contribution to the entertainment industry at international level and also contributed to our tourism industry when he acted in a movie filmed in Malaysia*

Now, this is the fun part. You should read Lim Kit Siang's blog posting of the same issue. Why only Shah Rukh Khan has been recognised for his role in a movie that was filmed in Malaysia?

What about the following international superstars that filmed their internationally known movies in Malaysia? They don't deserve any tiny weeny bit of recognition at all?
* Police Story starring Jackie Chan and Maggie Cheung
* Entrapment starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones
* Anna and the King starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yuen Fatt
* After This Our Exile starring Aaron Kwok
* Lust, Caution starring Tony Leung, Wang Lee Hom & Tang Wei with the movie director being Ang Lee
* The Touch starring Ben Chaplin and Datuk Michelle Yeoh
(can you name anymore?)

What about the people involved in our very own locally produced movie - Sepet. This movie has been garnered with awards in:-
* Best Asian Film Award at the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2005.
* Ninth Malaysian Video Awards
* 27th Creteil International Women Directors Festival in France
* 18th Malaysian Film Festival
* Global Chinese Golden Arts Awards
* Anugerah Era 2005

The Datuk title is supposed to be a prestige title which is to be bestowed on someone who has a tremendous record or contribution for the land of Malaysia. The best thing is Shah Rukh Khan won't be able to make it for the investiture ceremony. Somehow downgrades the Datukship title.

Reading: Shah Rukh Khan To Receive Datukship - Bernama
Tags: Shah Rukh Khan, Datukship, Malacca State Government, Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka, DMSM, Investiture Ceremony

11 comments:

Kev said...

Sigh.... shame, shame. I'm a Malaccan and I don't know where to hide my face. Typical life of leaders who award people based on a list, many of whom he doesn't even know exist.

I've posted something related to awarding the Datukship in my blog a few months ago. So your blog is "deja vu" to me :)

http://cubs-roar.blogspot.com/2008/07/awarding-award.html

Johnny Ong said...

kevin - 77 Datukship titles being awarded this year ..... my my. how many has the state govt given away in their history?

Drunk On Books And Adventure said...

it seems that daim is going to bring shah rukh khan in for a special ceremony since he didn't come for the investiture ceremony....!! *gasp*

i would not be surprised if he's laughing at us....we're behaving a bit like idiots, in my humble opinion.

Johnny Ong said...

blackie - well, daim's rich. he can do whatever he wants. just as long as the state govt does not pay for a single cent

Anonymous said...

" Anna and the King starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat "

Cannot lah.

They only filmed it in Malaysia but the setting is 19th century Thailand, because Thai Govt chided the film for historical inaccuracy thus being blasphemous to their Godly King.

Johnny Ong said...

anonymous - but it was stil shot in the land of malaysia.

bZbee said...

wow..datukship comes really cheap in Sabah...just to let you guys know...as cheap as 50k or just as easy as selling away native title land which is as par as tanah orang asli...

Anonymous said...

take a stone and throw, sure hit a datuk ~_~

Johnny Ong said...

bzbee - selling the country or wat?

blowfly - in future, a datuk cld be throwing the stone itself hehe

bZbee said...

yeah..selling country for self gain..lots of big names politician have properties in Australia now...i think they're following piranha menteri a.k.a PM footstep...if Something goes wrong with OUR country, just cabut to their newer countryhomes....
e.g..Labuan is now a whore state...it is total misleading when it is potrayed as corridor whatsoever..in truth...it's just a perfect spot for big shots to satisfy their needs...

Johnny Ong said...

bzbee - i heard abt the pubs / bars in labuan from a friend that travels there for biz .... now i'm wondering what he does when he's free haha

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