Ever received such a mail: Would you like a Datukship, sir?

 by Edgar Ong

PASSING BY: A good friend of mine, who is rather prominent in his chosen field of profession, was rather astonished to receive the following email recently which was sent to his work email address. 

The contents of the email had started off rather nicely – Dear (his full name and title were given accurately), I hope this emails finds you well. (Already in the first sentence, an error was noted.) As a corporate figure you have demonstrated a passionate commitment in your company and with your leadership skills. In view of the enormous achievement, etc etc...we are pleased to invite you for the application of the prestigious (a honorific from a certain state mentioned) award which carries the title Dato’.

It then went on to say that they are attaching three photos showing the recent recipients of the award as well as the regalia with award medal and badge. The email was signed off by a “Peter Och AAP, Vice President Asia Pacific Region, and Director, ECL Global, and had listed two local mobile phone nos., one with a 013 the other a 011.”  The reply-to email had this name and address - peterssu38@gmail.com.

This episode, if it is not fake, a hoax or a fraudulent solicitation, goes to show what the Malaysian public had always suspected has been happening all along, since the early formative days of the Malaysian Federation. 

Certain con artists or even so-called ‘middlemen’ have always been trying to rip off the gullible and naive among our local businessmen or professionals. It would seem that they have been operating for some time, and one would read the occasional reports that were made to the police with regards to people being conned of their money and getting nothing back in return.

For any scheme to work and be of any appeal or attraction for the man on the street with means it has to fulfil a few criteria –

prestige, honour, respect, status and position stands out to be the ultimate goal of some businessmen or professional.  

The saying goes that once someone has made his fortune and has everything he has ever dreamt of – a trophy wife, the luxury home and an expensive car and club membership – what is there left for him to covet? 

It seems that a title then becomes uppermost and most sought for in his way of thinking. How nice it would be to be called a Dato and thereby ‘commanding’ respect as well as priority seating at all government functions.  Heck – he could even book the VIP arrival/departure hall at the airport terminal! 

For many, money would not be an issue at all, and they would be willing to pay a rather handsome price for such a gratification. After all it’s only money and he could easily make a lot more...especially more so now when he becomes a Dato.

The word in the gossip mill goes that Datoships from one or two states can be had for a ‘donation’ to the coffers of the ‘certain state’ of say RM150,000 more or less, plus an annual contribution at the ruler’s birthday do each year. 

For a higher amount, it’s a clean deal with a one-off donation, but that could be double or triple of the going rate. I must reiterate that all this is merely hearsay and gossip heard and I have no evidence whatsoever as to the truth of this story. 

However, former minister Dr Rais Yatim has gone on record as alleging that certain states were guilty of ‘selling’ awards and honours and this has never been denied by any state royalty.

Every now and then from gleaning the daily newspapers, one learns of the award of a Datoship to a local Sarawakian or Sabahan bestowed by one or another Malayan ruler – for no obvious reason at all. 

It’s not that the ‘bestowed’ had either made a name for himself or had become a successful businessman or a renown  industrialist in that particular state or anything even vaguely resembling that – so you can’t really blame the common folk from wondering what had happened? 

Back in the good old days when awards were given out they would give the reason(s) for bestowing it on that particular person – be it that he had been the head of some government department or had played a major role in some events which had benefited the state at large, or had done some exemplary duty as a benevolent philanthropist or maybe headed some sports organisations or charity boards. In simple words someone who had made some major contribution or had an impact on the state. 

But nowadays if the email as stated is to be believed, such awards are up for grabs to the highest bidder, and even if that was indeed just a scam or a con job, or in truth the very first step towards an eventual title should the appropriate ‘donation’ change hands, the pre-eminence and respect which was previously shown to the title holders of these awards have now been battered, tattered and some would even say, ‘ripped to shreds’.  Would you like a Datukship, Sir?

- theantdaily