Sunday, July 20, 2008

"No Award" Birthday

No one made it to the sultan's birthday list in oil rich Terengganu state this year. Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, who is also the current Yang di Pertuan Agong, has decided that his birthday bash this year would be carried out “in moderation”. In contrast, the state government is coughing up RM3.43 million for 14 units of new Mercedes 200 Kompressor for their exco to replace their 4 year old Proton Perdana V6s. (Read Rocky's Bru and Tok Mommy's take on this, here and here). If HRH's decision had anything to do with this, only God knows.

When I was in the service, I used to pore over each royal birthday honours list in the hope of finding my name that the powers-that-be may have somehow neglected to inform me ... but no such luck. Although I served for almost three decades as a senior government servant and a pioneer in my line of work, a very grateful government failed to reward me even with a lowly PJK. Perhaps here my lawan taukeh stance during my long term involvement with the trade union movement may have something to do with this.

Nevertheless, I do get very pissed off every time I read about young people barely out of their teens whose only qualifications are that they are the sons and daughters of national leaders, mediocre businessmen and third rate politicians being awarded datukships and what have you. Perhaps I should be grateful just being addressed as "captain", thank you very much.

19 comments:

  1. as it is right now, i have a whole lot of respect for a captain than a datuk any day of the week.

    if ever you were bestowed the datuk title, please, address yourself as captain datuk and not the other way round. :)

    have a great weekend!

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  2. Salams Captain sir...

    Reckon you should be grateful for not being conferred the datukship. Is has no value whatsoever. And imagine the number of people getting pissed(as you yourself getting pissed at teen datuks) or even accuse you for buying the title. Worse, some would even make doa for something bad to befall you.

    Maybe the datukship was quite honourable then when you pored through them lists. But now, reckon it's like a fake Rolex from the old Petaling Street. Nice to look at but...

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  3. Captain sir,

    You have earned your respect in your profession and blogosphere, who cares about whatever latuk or jaga pintu titles ?

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  4. capt., in today's environment, you are better recognised being a capt rather than those datukship with a price list. well, everyone linked with 'easy' money is given one or perhaps one of higer rank in those days. maybe you were unlucky to serve under a stingy boss who calculated every cent, and he too didnot get any while in service. So in our bolehland, every thing USED to have a price! At HRH had put such titles beyond price consideration. Daulat Tuanku!!

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  5. When your name is prefixed with "Captain" we know you have earned it but a "datuk"? Hey, even gangsters with big bucks could buy their datukship...

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  6. Dear Saudara Kapitan/Captain Yusof:
    da GOoD side in being plain Encik/Cik/Saudara?Saudari is that when you attend certain functions lie Tatler's do, when the roof collapses, the chances of a plain Saudara's or Captain/Kapitan's not being under the debris are better than a Datuk, or Tan Si. :)--Desi waitin' for Latin danzer:)

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  7. Captain,

    I should, with or without your permission, tell you this:

    You are better off without such 'invitations'.

    You are even better of without such 'titles'.

    You are BESt with your sincere heart and open mind.

    Reading your Blog, inspires many an injured man and woman -- hurt by the gross injustices they see around them.

    Beyond doubt, your contributions to nation-building is manifested in the principles you have stood fort.

    If I may borrow a thought from Socrates: LET OUR HUMBLE DEEDS AND THE SIMPLE WORDS WE SPOKE, TURN INTO ORACLES ON OUR TOMBSTONE.

    Well done Captain. Hundreds of thousands of like-minded, caring citizens would be eternally grateful that there are honest, clear-thinking individuals who never gave up championing the fundamental rights of mankind that we hold witness to today, enshrined in the global thrust of saving men and women from the robbers we see all over the world.

    So, you see Captain you are better off then all the greedy individuals who court the rich and famous for their own selfish interests.

    ReplyDelete
  8. whats in a name? esp.
    look at the tan sri's and tuns? how many can stand the test honour?
    capt it is, there is still respect from your family, friends, acquaintances and readers of your blog.

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  9. Dear Sir, people who "lawan taukeh" are rare and may be ostracised. But I'm grateful that you had the courage to do it in championing the people's rights.
    www.keladileaf.blogspot.com

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  10. Captain, like tomcat said you EARNED that rank thru you professionalism, blood, sweat and tears. I had an old student who was a driver to a chinese towkay. Towkay passed on and driver married widow and presto, he was given a datukship. He tried to impress me by introducing me to his bodyguard. He further tried to impress me by offering me a cigar that I could buy from seven-eleven. I told him I prefer my monte cristo.You can now pay by installment I hear, for a datukship that is. Even if finally they force a datukship on you, I wiull still call you Captain. Datuk nowadays has a cheap ring about it....like somebody said that there are more datuks here than Sirs in the UK.

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  11. Hi Captain,

    Can someone explain why a Thomas Cupper (Ng Boon Bee) has wait 41years before he recognised with a Datukship ? [not to mention the others who have yet to be recognised]

    But take heart Capt, at least you're recognised as Sir internationally. Hi Hi Sir!

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  12. Yo Sir Capt Yusof,
    You have earned your knighthood in blogosphere and you don't need that cheap datuk title.
    Just make sure you continue to help to make this country right again as of now everything seems to be going haywire.

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  13. Datuk Yusof Ahmad??? Nah!!

    Captain Yusof Ahmad sounds better and more dignified.

    We have a-dime-a-dozen datuks in this country.

    You throw a stone in a crowd, 8 out of 10 times it will lend on a datuk's head.

    Even a fool in the Govt ministry, how corrupt and stupid, is made a datuk.

    Types of Datuks:

    Chinese datuks: Datuk Ringgit

    Malay datuks: Datuk UMNO

    Indian datuks: Datuk Angkat Samy Vellu

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  14. you did not get PJK cos you already have one. Perut Jalan Kehadapn.
    Jangan marah. Gurau saje

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  15. dear sir,
    a captain can become a datuk,
    but a datuk can't definitely become a captain.

    zulfa ahmad
    chief officer

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  16. Dear Capt. Yusoff
    Zakaria Deros was a Dato', but he'll only be remembered for building a palace on public lands earmarked for the poor, financed by money of dubious means. Rather than be associated with such villains, I think you're better off as Captain!
    Salute!

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  17. Dear Captain Yusof,

    You will alway be a respected captain to us. You earned your title... you did not 'buy' it, neither did you get it by being somebody's 'yes' man. You earned it with dignity.

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  18. Captain, you have my love and respect since I came to know u as fellow blogger and friend.

    If u become a Datuk now, I'd probably ask if you paid for it, just like I asked one MCA ex-assemblyman some time ago.

    That is the perception of many people when it comes to Datukship.

    Don't mean much these days, these titles.
    Not when Mat Tyson is a Tan Sri.
    Not when Black Eye Rahim Noor is a Tan Sri. Not when MCA's Ling and Hamid Omar is a Tun.

    Even if u were given one, I'd still call u Captain.

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  19. there is a 25 year old son of a prominent ipoh tan sri, a lawyer wih keen interests in cycling, just conferred his datukship, what would you think of that then... the datukship loses its value totally...

    the northface

    ReplyDelete

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