Datuk, Dato’, Tan Sri and Dato’ Pahlawan – What’s the difference between all these titles?

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Some of us might have noticed that people with titles have been making a lot of headlines lately, and not the good kind. A Datuk Seri, who is also a cosmetic tycoon had been fined for making an advertisement unapproved by the Medicine Advertisement Board, and earlier for not paying GST (which she later did). Another Datuk Seri became famous after hitting a security guard.

A Datuk was charged with animal cruelty by participating in illegal cockfighting, while another was jailed for a day and fined for being involved in a bird’s nest investment scam. Datuk cases had become enough of an issue for the Council of Federal Datuks Malaysia (yeah, that’s a thing) have called for a special law that automatically strips away a person’s titles and awards upon being convicted with a crime.

But Datuks are humans after all, and maybe we’re just hearing more of their cases because there’s more of them nowadays. Malaysia having too much Datuks seemed to be a popular sentiment, and the Sultan of Johor once said

“If you were to randomly throw a stone, it will hit a Datuk’s head, bounce off and hit another Datuk’s head.” – Sultan of Johor, translated from Berita Harian.

 

3. Tan Sris: Harder to buy than Datuk Seris

You might have heard of some people with this title, like Tan Sri Musa Aman, Sabah’s Chief Minister, and Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria, the Perak Mufti. Tan Sris are like the second highest title you can get from awards, and you can be called one by either being awarded with the Panglima Mangku Negara (P.M.N.) or the Panglima Setia Mahkota (P.S.M.). These medals are given to…

“…those of fame and high class who have performed exceptional service to the country in any field.” – Excerpt from Istananegara.gov.

Federal awards like these are strictly regulated. There may only be 250 P.S.M. holders alive at any given time, and P.M.N. holders even less than that, at 75. According to this news article, you’d have to have your name recommended to the chief secretary of the government for the Agong to consider you for the awards, and an agent selling Tan Sri titles for RM5 million was busted by the Sultan of Johor, to whom he offered RM2 million to recommend some names for him.

Wives of those bearing the title of Tan Sri will themselves be known as Puan Sri. Foreigners may receive this award as a honorary award, but they won’t count towards the total 325. While Tan Sri is the federal counterpart for Datuk Seri, which is the highest awarded title for most states, it’s not the highest title obtainable through federal awards. That title would be…

So the total number of Tuns in Malaysia at one time can only be at most 50 people. This year, only three Malaysians received the title of Tun through the S.M.M. They are Tan Sri Md Raud Sharif (the Chief Justice of Malaysia), Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu and Tan Sri Michael Chen Wing Sum.

 

5. There are higher federal awards, but they won’t give you a title (or are only for royalties)

So far, we’ve seen that federal medals are more limited than state medals, and that there’s a certain ranking or precedence with the medals (and consequently, the titles). The medals that give the title of ‘Tun’ would seem pretty high-ranking, but the S.M.N., the higher one of the two, is actually at fourth place. So what kind of person can hold the highest federal medal available?

If you think that the answer would be the Agong, think again. It’s actually an unlimited award that can be given to any Malaysian, provided that that person showed “supreme courage and bravery in extraordinary and highly dangerous situations“. That award is the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (Grand Knight of Valour, or S.P. for short). Recipients of the S.P. will not get any fancy titles, but are eligible for a monthly allowance of RM400 a month.

The Darjah Yang Maha Utama Kerabat Diraja Malaysia (D.K.M.) comes next, given only to Sultans who have became the Agong at least once. Then comes the Darjah Utama Seri Mahkota Negara (D.M.N.), which are given to the Raja Permaisuri Agong (the Agong’s wife), new Kings and Sultans in their respective states, some foreign royalty and very, very famous people.

Only after these three medals come the S.M.N. and the S.M.M., which you may remember as the medals that carry the ‘Tun’ title. It’s a complex an elaborate system, but it’s now threatened by award-selling and fake titles.

 

“If you produce a million Ferrari cars, nobody will care about buying a Ferrari,”

That quote was by Eddin Khoo, a Malay cultural expert, for FMT. It was estimated between 700 to 1,200 new Datuks are produced annually in Malaysia, bringing the total number of people with titles somewhere in the tens of thousands. However, not all of them are legitimate. Some Datuk titles are bought, while others are outright fake.

“It is an open secret that Datukships are for sale by cheats and those who claim to have the ear of the royalty, and there are individuals who abuse their titles,” – Thomas Su, opposition parliamentarian for FMT.

Ali Tinju, the guy who performed butt exercises in front of Datuk S. Ambiga’s home (that’s the co-chairman of Bersih 2.0), is a Datuk, and he actually admitted that his Datukship was bought for RM250,000.

“Mohd. Ali used that title that was allegedly awarded by a royal institution from a state in the northern part of the Peninsula in 2006, through an agent and a member of the royal institution.” – Translated from Utusan.

A quarter million for a fancy title may seem steep, but Ali Tinju had said that just having the title will make his business as a contractor easier. Eddin Khoo had stated that titles have been widely abused due to their influence and the connections that come with them, and these perks may manifest in a number of ways, like having the ear of policymakers, skipping over red tapes or even be somewhat immune to prosecution.

And of course, some used the reputation gained from their titles to scam the unwary public, like in numerous cases in the past. Thankfully, the people giving out the awards do keep track of the awards they give out, so the public can check whether someone really is a Datuk or a Tan Sri or whatever using this link.