A ‘royal hustle’: The King of Borneo scam (top) was recently exposed by the MCA Public Service and Complaints Department and Majlis Datuk-Dato Malaysia. — TheStarTV screen capture
NOT too long ago, a Mandarin-speaking person was proclaimed the King of Borneo, Sulu, and Mindanao.
Preposterous as it may seem, it actually did happen.
The man accepted the position in a well-attended ceremony which included another person dressed up like a British judge in a big red robe to give the impression that it had legal recognition. The act also included a Caucasian couple to lend an air of pomp, and possibly an international presence.
Several other individuals at the ceremony claimed to be representatives of the indigenous people of Borneo and there was also a “vice chairman of the United Nations peace foundation’’.
All were smartly attired, with the purported investiture properly recorded on video.
Malaysians have grown accustomed to people accepting titles, possibly after paying large sums of money, from so-called royalty from the Philippines, especially from Mindanao, but the King of Borneo award beats them all.
The exposé of the fake installation was made by MCA Public Service and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong and Majlis Datuk-Dato Malaysia (MDDM) secretary-general Datuk Samson David Manan.
The fake Datukships, as well as unrecognised foreign awards, run against articles in Act 787 of the Laws of Malaysia.
In simple language, it is an offence to use the honorific of Datuk or Tan Sri if you are not one. It is also punishable to use an unrecognised award from Mindanao, for example.
Recently, at a forum on “Act 787 – Preserving the Dignity of Honorary Titles” organised by MDDM in Kuala Lumpur, participants were told of a case where two individuals, proclaiming themselves to be Datuks, drove to the office of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Putrajaya in a car bearing the MACC crest.
They were in the building to lodge a report, but the crest caught the eye of some MACC officers, who felt something was amiss. The two men did not lodge reports. Instead, they were nabbed on the spot.
As it turned out, they were not Datuks. It was bizarre.
During the forum, Samson also talked about three individuals, all Malaysians, who passed themselves off as Tan Sris.
They included a woman, who has since been arrested for cheating; she used her social media platforms to proclaim her title brazenly, assuming that no one would know.
Dressed up smartly and looking every inch a professional in her picture, she offered financial advise and branded herself a speaker, entrepreneur, and investor.
What the MDDM would like to do is to have her charged for using a fake Tan Sri title, too.
Another man, an insurance salesman, passed himself off as Tan Sri Datuk Dr, which was an easy way to detect him. It was just too much, to put it simply.
There are also many who were actual Datuks but upgraded themselves to be a Datuk Sri, a title from Pahang. When confronted by MDDM, they claimed they had been cheated by scammers who told them they had been promoted.
A Datuk Seri is different from a Datuk Sri but to avoid complications the media has standardised these titles, which can differ from state to state.
There are also so many variations of the Datuk titles – Datuk Seri, Datuk Sri, Datuk Paduka, Datin Paduka, Dato’, Datuk Wira, and Datuk Patinggi (depending on the states) – that it has become confusing, even for the media.
Samson said the council deals with an average of 30 cases a month involving fraudulent honorary titles, adding that “almost every day, I receive reports from people asking for help”.
“We guide them on what to do and one of the steps is to lodge a police report,’’ he said.There was also a case where an entire family – the father, mother, sisters, and brothers – claimed to be Datuks.
Then there is a well-known speaker, in his early 30s, who also called himself a Datuk, but a simple check showed he was fake. After being exposed, his social media was filled with negative comments.
One reason why these people want to be titled is because they believe it would add value to themselves and help to scam and cheat the public, who believe they are honourable people. Many of us perceive that these titles could be bought.
After all, we have rightly questioned why certain people are being awarded a Datukship when they had not contributed to society, or worse, some have dubious backgrounds.
It is common for MDDM to receive complaints involving businessmen with fake Datukships, but now there are allegations that some lawyers and accountants tried to pass themselves off as Datuks.
Then there is a high profile chiropractor who has a Datuk title but advertised himself as Datuk Sri. A simple check showed there are no “records” of him getting a Datuk Sri. He received a call from MDDM to take it down.
MDDM president Datuk Awalan Abdul Aziz said the council has submitted a proposal for improvements and amendments to Act 787 to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Legal and Institutional Reform) and the Attorney General, aimed at enhancing the effectiveness and enforcement of the Act.
Among the proposals is to increase fines and penalties for certain offences under the Act as a deterrent against the misuse of honorary titles, with Awalan saying “this would also enable specific legal cases to be escalated to higher courts”.
The MDDM has even come across two commoners who claimed to have the Darjah Kerabat (DK) awards, which are only conferred on the Malay Rulers.
There is also a need for the Rulers to automatically revoke the titles of anyone who has been convicted of a crime or, worse, already serving a jail sentence. Surely it will be odd for prison wardens –even as a mockery – to still address a prisoner as Datuk.
Even gangsters are Datuks.
In 2017, it was reported that a notorious gang of 60 hardened criminals included four low-level politicians with the titles of Datuk and a Datuk Seri. The Gang 360 Devan gang, involved in murder, drug pushing, luxury car theft, and hijacking, must be the gang with the greatest number of title bearers.
Then there was the leader of the notorious Gang 24, who was a Datuk Seri. He was among 22 men held in another spate of arrests.
There should also be a minimum age for recipients as it does not make sense for a teenager to be conferred a Datuk title, for example.
The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, has set the example. He has imposed strict conditions, including a minimum age of 45, for a person to be conferred the state’s Datukship.
It’s bad enough that there are already so many titled Malaysians, now we have so many more fake ones as well.
There is a need to protect the value and sanctity of these awards which are conferred by the Rulers, and to ensure these awards are not made a mockery of.
These cheats can be easily verified with a click via www.istiadat.gov.my, and they should be exposed and shamed.
These scammers and cheaters need to be stopped. The reason they dare to be impostors is because they believe they can get away with it as the police have more urgent cases on their plate.
