Friday, August 22, 2008

Datuk or Wira?

In my column in Kosmo! last week, I predicted Lee Chong Wei will be awarded Datukship as the Penang Government wants to score points as well.

Historian Prof Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim is not in favour of bestowing the Datukship to athletes. He suggested a different honorific, like Wira for instance. Imagine addressing Chong Wei and Nicol David as Wira Chong Wei and Wirawati Nicol.

I tend to agree with Prof Kay Kim.

Read his take in Harian Metro here

Also read Sin Chew Daily's sharp observation on Chong Wei's new-found status here

9 comments:

Firdaus said...

I dont think we should reward mediocrity. If he was champ then its ok, he fully deserve whatever title people want to give him. This kind of reward only encourages complacency. People only remembers the first place winners, being second best is nowhere near the best.

Until we instill a winning mentality Malaysian's will not be able to consistently deliver world champions.

Anonymous said...

Rizal, gelaran "Datuk" untuk atlit muda saya rasa tak sesuai. Imagine bila depa pi training, officials atau coach yang lebih tua tapi tak dapat Datuk lagi kena panggil "Datuk" setiap kali Chong Wei atau Nicole buat silap.

Saya rasa gelaran "Wira" pun tak sesuai kerana gelaran itu patut dikhaskan kepada mereka yang berjuang di medan peperangan.

Kita boleh bagi cadangan di sini gelaran apa yang patut diberi kepada atlit yang berjaya di peringkat Olimpik atau dunia.

Port Dickson, N. Sembilan

Unknown said...

Sekarang ni banyak sangat gelaran Datuk....elok juga isu ini dibangkitkan supaya perbincangan lanjut boleh dibuat oleh pihak berkenaan....Tapi yang paling tak setuju bila artis dapat gelaran Datuk...
Saya pon setuju dengan pandangan Prof Khoo...

kajang-today said...

agreed with firdaus. why reward mediocrity? This thingy never happened in yesteryears..see mokhtar, chin aun etc..
Can't they wait until he retires?

Do you think Usain Bolt will be given a similar award by Jamaican govt? Maybe a reggae party, dinner with president but not Datukship..that too for breaking double sprint record, mind you.
Silver medalist?...maybe a rundown barbecue shack in Kingston.
It's not a healthy practice, period.

Anonymous said...

bro...

bagi pihak media susah la sikit bila bekerja dengan dato lee chong wei.sebelum ni panggil apek saja..
kacau-kacau

The Blueberry said...

Rizal,

As much as I am into the sporting spirit and the whole "winning isn't everything stuff" and even though I realise that winning an Olympic medal, regardless of color, is a BIG deal, I still think that Lee Chong Wei was overrated when being given the Datukship. Getting a reward for LOSING in a game (and losing rather shamefully too)?... I also think that the award is premature, he is way too young, and just how legendary is he compared to Misbun Sidek, for instance?... Nicol pun sama, she's just too young for a Datukship (although I think she's a bit of a legend already).

(I nak ngomel sikit yer...)

Frankly I dunno lah what's wrong with us Malaysians. We sail the southern seas a bit, dapat Datukship. Swim the English channel, another Datukship. Walk the earth's pole, dapat Datukship. Memanglah task yang diorang buat tu macam susah, but we never asked them to do it in the first place!

OK lah. Enough ngomel. I'm going out to practice my reverse driving, because, God help you people, I'm trying to find fame and a Datukship by attempting to drive IN REVERSE GEAR from Padang Besar to JB!

Unknown said...

Apa daa?!?! Sikit-sikit bagi Datukship. Tak value la title tu sekarang. Cari la cara lain utk menghargai sumbangan Lee chong Wei. Saya bersetuju dengan sdr Othman tak kan team mates nak kena call Datuk Lee everytime. So Mew choo pulak geng-geng pompuan kena call Datin la nampak gayanya..

Anonymous said...

Tak dapat nak bayangkan sekiranya Malaysia menang world cup satu tim bola nak bagi title datuk ke?


Taiwanese Malay_sji87

Arnaz M. Khairul said...

In the words of Khalid Redza: "Nanti macam mana Misbun mau kasi training? Mau panggil dia pun susah. Datuk, you kasi pukul ini macam okay? Datuk, you kena main net ini macam okay? Datuk, make sure besok pagi training jam 8, okay? Nanti saya mau tangkap dia punya gambar pun mau panggil Datuk, you posing ini macam, itu macam la. Haiya, manyak susah la."
Haiyo, ini macam tarak okay maaa... Give him the Datukship after he's won the world title seven times and delivered two more Olympic medals, then trained another five Thomas Cup winners or something. Phew!!!