OUR FEUDAL PAST
At a recent function, I was given a business card by someone that goes by the title 'Professor Dr Sir Kolonel Kerhormat Datuk Seri' before his name. Quiet a mouthful indeed, and as I didn’t know how exactly to address him, I addressed him by his surname. His reaction to that was close to a heart attack. His cheeks turned red from what I think must be indignation. After all, who’s this younger person who dare address him by his surname? He did recover in time to say, ‘nice to meet you too’, before hurrying off to impress someone else with his long title.
On hindsight, with his broken English and heavy Chinese accent, his doctorate must have been in Hokkien studies or something similar. I should have asked, so at least we all know.
Not too long ago, we had this exposé of how MBAs – and that’s Master of Business Administration, not Married But Available, mind you – are being sold for 5,000 bucks a piece. And you can customise which university you want it from, the specialisation that goes along with it, and for another 5,000 your MBA comes with distinction.
It’s simply amazing how obsessed we are as a society with titles and status that we are willing corrupt the system just so we can add one or two in front of our names.
Our Feudal Past
While I am tempted to refer to our feudal past, I realise that it is not really in the past. In many ways, from our bureaucratic civil service to our complex and numerous orders of merits and chivalry (really!), I am surprised we are not all living in medieval castles (or huts, if you have the bad fortune of being born a commoner).
In India at a recent function, an Indian industrialist (and that’s how the Indians address their senior entrepreneurs) introduced himself by his first name, and while those surrounding him humbly added a Mr to his name, he insisted that I addressed him by his first name. And that’s coming from a country that has a longer feudal history than we do. India had Rajahs and Sultans long before we had ours. It’s refreshing how a country that has also shared a common colonial past, a strong British influence and a highly stratified society could have less protocol than we do.
The socialist half of me longs for a more egalitarian society, where respect is earned and given on merits rather than on the basis of our titles. Some of our neighbouring countries have done exactly that, and have since grown to become more inclusive societies and rank among the best places to live in globally. We cannot call ourselves a democracy, unless we are able to also democratise our thoughts and not allow our feudal past to dictate our actions.
Respected Indian jurist, Justice Markandey Katju not too long ago courted controversy when he declared that 90% of Indians are idiots. What he meant, if one is to understand the context of how and where he spoke it, is that many Indians remain susceptible to communalities. He went on to say that all it takes to bring the Indian economy to its knees is to hire a group of Muslims to desecrate a Hindu temple – chaos and massive riots would follow.
On the same vein, we need to ask if our own society is filled with idiots too, since we are so obsessed with our differences rather than our respective merits. This New Year, as we pray for peace and progress, perhaps, one of the best ways to achieve both is to move ourselves a little towards becoming a more egalitarian society.
WILLIAM NG