At some point, we start seeing figures with the titles Datin & Datuk everywhere in the country. You'll start to wonder “Is it so easy to get a datukship?”, which is also something I've been wondering about lately. This is called title inflation - when more and more people are carrying high status or authoritative job titles, often without any improvement of talent or achievements.
Datukship is meant to signify expertise and performance, but these days, it's loosely used around without any merit to it. It becomes a general title to exert power over others, rather than to dictate excellence. Word goes around that such datukship titles can be bought over by monetary contributions, and in a world where more or less everybody claims to have some sort of superlative title (or whatever), it dilutes the significance of such titles. They don’t work anymore as valid signs of success/credibility. If someone can buy it with money, why can't I?
The biggest downfall of title inflation is it's impact on meritocracy - when you dole out datukship titles freely no matter the performances, and you reward with titles those who may not deserve them rather than the people who have worked hard to rightfully earn the title, this will demotivate citizens who are truly excellent in their fields. If you see idiots in your country being rewarded for doing the bare minimum, you'd want nothing to do with them Here we go, brain drain.
At this point, we don't even care anymore how someone got their datuk title. We just assume immediately they're made of money, unless they are super famous. What even is the point of the title anymore? This requires the government and related parties to exercise greater caution in awarding titles, as a way to preserve the value of the titles. This includes:
- Setting up defined and strict conditions for the allocation of honorary titles ensuring based on merits and accomplishment.
- Check the titles periodically to confirm they remain fit-for-purpose and applicable.
- Transparency in explaining the importance of titles and the standards internal/external use.
- Promoting an atmosphere of meritocracy & recognition; incentivizing people based on contribution not title.
- Disposing corruption - come on.
In short: datukship titles (should) mean something, but how they're awarded could decrease the value of the title. This should be mitigated with a more mindful distribution and deployment of the titles.. Doing so will make sure that the datukship title maintain their weight and value in our society.
Crystal Chai is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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