9,999 PHDs in Penang?

The other day I saw this Alphard with a PHD registration and I wondered how many people actually waited for these registration letters at the time. It is nice to just imagine there are 9,999 PhD holders issued by JPJ (Road Transport Department) with some in other parts of the country.

There are a number of honorary holders of PhD and the quickest route for those rich enough was to run or take over a university college with ties with a foreign university able to confer one. I am not sure if they are supposed to use Dr. so and so, or just mention (Dr.) to differentiate.

With local awards by Rulers, some people value JPs more than Datuks because the former actually required not only literacy, but the ability to act as a second class magistrate. There were some complaints about Datuks who are unable to speak proper Malay which gave rise to Lat’s cartoon showing someone who has just been awarded exclaiming, “Gua lapat latok! Gua lapat latok”. To those foreign readers, what he was supposed to say was, “Saya sudah dapat Datuk” which means, “I have received Datukship (award)”. ‘Gua’ is actually Hokien dialect for ‘Saya’ or ‘I’ and the Chinese written language can only use the characters, La Tuk and not Dah Tuk, which explains why his spouse is known as ‘Lah Tin’ and not ‘Dah Tin’.

Now, we have young and beautiful women being awarded datukship, namely, Datuk Michelle Yeoh, the former Miss Malaysia and well known actress who acted in a James Bond film, Datuk Siti Nulhalizah the much acclaimed local singer, and Datuk Nicol David, the world squash champion. To the locals, the main problem is ‘datuk’ can also mean ‘grandfather’, so it is inevitable that each time we tend to think Grandfather Michelle Yeoh!

There are some people who like to use the title Senator so and so, simply because most people the world over know the importance of being a senator, made famous by people like Senator Edward Kennedy. Our local senators are a docile and quiet lot in comparison.

If you are a politician with the ruling Barisan Nasional, you would be nominated by your party and awarded by the Sultan (state) or Agong (national) with titles like Datuk, Datuk Seri or Tan Sri or even Tun when you are retire from being President of a party.

Lesser party leaders would be awarded Datukship after having served a term or two as State Assemblyman or Member of Parliament. For those in the opposition, it is mainly because they are not likely to be awarded or more like rewarded because of political divide, but also because most like Lim Kit Siang find it inappropriate… maybe later, like the late Tan Sri Dr. Tan Chee Khoon, who actually had to soul-searched himself before receiving his Tan Sri from the Agong then, the Sultan of Pahang.

For BN division and branch leaders, they are likely to be awarded more than once with titles like datukship, KMN, AMN and so on. Many people joke about ‘you’re likely to hit a Datuk if you threw a stone in a crowd’! Perhaps, we are just being ‘sour grapes’!