Move to expose fake Datuks

KUALA LUMPUR: MCA Public Complaints Bureau chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong advised the public not to purchase or accept Datukships from bogus sources to avoid embarrassing themselves in the future.
Chong said this is because the government will soon start keeping a record of legitimate Datuks who received their titles from the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, Sultans, or Governors, and fake ones will be exposed when that happens.
"If you bought your title or was awarded by illegitimate sources, your friends will still call you Datuk because they they are no aware. But what should they call you when they find out that your name is not in the official list?" he told a press conference at the MCA headquarters today.
Chong said such fake titles, often purchased by foreign businessmen or awarded by bogus royals such as the "Malacca Sultan", are becoming rampant, quoting the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar that "if you throw a stone in Malaysia, you will hit two Datuks".
He said he had received many complaints and inquiries from the public, asking if a person's title is legitimate or not.
Chong said the Council of Federal Datuks Malaysia deputy president Tan Sri M. Kayveas had already brought the matter up to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said and was told that a law is already in the works to address the issue.
Azalina, who is in charge of parliamentary affairs, reportedly told Kayveas that her predecessor Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim brought the matter up in Parliament last year and enacted a law to log all title-holders.