DAP should reconsider its no-datukship principle

It will probably improve its image among the Malays.

COMMENT

DAP’s stand against accepting honorific titles betrays either its failure to understand the Malay psyche or its lack of interest in winning the respect of the community.

If DAP is serious about increasing its appeal among Malay voters, chairman Karpal Singh should not have so easily brushed aside allegations by delegates to last week’s Umno assembly that members of his party insult Malay rulers when they decline datukships and other such awards.

Datuks may be a dime a dozen to the sophisticated urban Malay, but to his more traditional minded cousin in the kampung, a person holding such a title still commands awe and respect because it shows that even a sultan has recognised his worth.

Of course, a Yang DiPertua Begeri can also confer a datukship, but that point is quite irrelevant. To the Malay mind, the head of a state is royal, whether his blood is blue, green or pink.

DAP must have noticed that in Penang, any department head with a “datuk” before his name commands greater respect among civil servants than even the Chief Minister, who is only an “Encik”.

Of course, they know that Lim Guan Eng is their big boss. But as long as he is not a datuk, he is still seen as someone who is not fully recognised by the palace.

Officials at the higher levels who engage regularly with Lim may know that he is an Encik by choice. However, to the lower ranking officials and ordinary citizens, his lack of a title could be an indication of his ineligibility for it.

Umno can play on this perception. Some of the more crooked characters from that party might even go around saying that the royal houses do not approve of DAP leaders because they are bad guys, racists or traitors.

With datukships in hand, DAP leaders would gain more credibility when they try to fight off allegations that their party is an enemy to Malays and Muslims.

It is all perception, and DAP as a seasoned political party should know that is what politics is all about.