Why we continue to sell ourselves short?

Shame for Malacca state and Malaysian nation is the only word at the following report:

Shah Rukh can’t come for award function

Nov 20, 08 2:36 pm

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has postponed a controversial ceremony to award him a Datukship because he is too busy, officials said today.

Shah Rukh is to be presented with an award from Malacca which carries the title “Datuk” after a 2001 film set in Malacca boosted its profile as a tourist destination.

The award has proved contentious, with some questioning whether Shah Rukh is deserving or whether local artists and celebrities should be recognised instead.

“The ceremony has been postponed for now,” a senior Malacca official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“We wanted the ceremony to take place over a weekend but Shah Rukh’s schedule was such that we could not agree on a date so we are now working on a new one that will keep everyone happy, but it hasn’t been fixed yet,” he said.

Since the filming of Shah Rukh’s 2001 movie, ‘One 2 Ka 4’ at a popular resort in Malacca, the number of tourists coming from India has increased significantly, state officials say.

The 42-year-old heart-throb was to have received his award on Nov 29, in a ceremony aired live on India’s top entertainment channel, Zee TV.

“The postponement of the award shows just how ridiculous it is to give such an award to Shah Rukh as Malaysia and the award most probably does not even picture on his radar,” opposition politician Lim Kit Siang told AFP.

Malaysia has become a popular location for Indian films, which have a huge following among ethnic Indians and the majority Muslim-Malays.

-AFP

49 Replies to “Why we continue to sell ourselves short?”

  1. Our so-called Dato’ Shah Rukh Khan is obviously not interested in coming to Malaysia to receive his Melaka state award. This is the second time he has backed off. Maybe he is busy making more money filming elsewhere than collect an insignificant title. The Melaka state government has been taken for a ride by a foreign actor! Where to hide our ‘maruah’?

  2. Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has shown by postponing for the second time his attendance in Melaka to receive the Datukship award that he is the least not interested in receiving the title. However busy as he claimed he is, he should show some courtesy and due respect to the Melaka Governor and the state government by making himself available at the appointed date at all cost in Melaka. Is it too much to ask of him? If our own Dato’ Michelle Yeoh, even though she is busier than Shah Rukh Khan, could fly back to Ipoh at the first available flight to collect the Datukship award from the Sultan Of Perak sometime ago, then why couldn’t our Bollywood friend come? He might as well decline the award if it is too much of a problem! Or the Melaka state government rescind the title awarded to him? Where’s the problem?

  3. Could that possible the postponement of the award , it is because the hindraf unable to get out from kemunting camp to attent the ceremony?

    How come the Malaca state gov do not help on this matter so the ceremony will be held shortly and the whole india will be in joy.

    Who know after these more indian will come to visit the Malaca. Isnt it what they want more visitors?

  4. just like lge begging koreans and japs to invest in pinang, i don see prob with malacca dishing “datukship” as a form to lure celebrities/foreigners to melaka/malaysia either for investment or filming site….. plz be open minded and stop criticizing ….

  5. This business of awarding datukships and similar titles is getting silly. In Sarawak we say that one day it will be a rare thing to be a Mr or Mrs or Ms or Miss because almost everybody will be a datuk or dato or datu.

  6. Is he a role model for the Ketuanan Melayu thingy?
    Shah Rukh married Gauri Khan (who is a Hindu) in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony on 25 October 1991. They have two children, son Aryan Khan (b. 1997) and daughter Suhana (b. 2000). According to Khan, while he strongly believes in Allah, he also values his wife’s religion. At home, his children follow both religions, with the Qur’an being situated next to the Hindu gods. (wikipedia)

  7. the value of melaka dahtohshit is worthless.

    putting myself in the shoe of khan, am sure he would expect some kind of appearance fee to receive this award. on the other hand, i think the cm must be dreaming for receiving a handsome tip from the actor for d dahtohshit.

  8. Who wants a datukship?

    By now everyone would have known that murderers, gangsters, ball-carriers, and money grabbing businessmen and politicians can buy a datukship in Bolehland.

    Shah Rukh has wise up to the reputation of Bolehland datukship and he does not want his famous name to be adulterated with Bolehland’s disease.

  9. Tak masuk akal, really. Some of my Dato friends are now ashamed to reveal that they are Dato’s because the general opinion is that a datukship is not such a big deal. Throw a stone into a crowd and it would likely hit a Dato. A proud Malay and therefore Malaysian traditional way of giving recognition to persons of distinction and service has been commercialised and made a mockery. It is shameful and has made us Malaysians feel very ashamed.

  10. Another totally mind-boggling act of utter stupidity.

    Go, go ……continue to ogle over getting a “datukship”. It’s plain to see that foreigners dun gv a damn about this title.

    All i can say is “BOLOKS!” to all you SHAMELESS IDIOTS!

  11. What Dato? Only Malaysian are interested in it. Other people won’t even bother to find out what it is. Ha Ha! All Malaysians have taken a ride. Malulah!!! You offer him, he rejected it. Might as well offer it to me. No need to Malu.

  12. David Beckham said sometime ago that he would walk all the way home to england from the states if he was recalled to the english national team.

    Similarly, i believe shah rukh khan would walk all the way to england from where he now stands if he was ever called upon to receive knighthood.

    And Dato? Dato Shah Rukh? No offence. But really. LOL LOL LOL LOL!

    Read this : It is something I copied from http://www.honours.gov.uk and paste here –

    “Prime Minister Gordon Brown is calling on the nation to make sure local heroes who make a big difference to their communities are honoured by the nation. He said that he believed, ‘the significant majority of honours should, in my view, go to people who serve their community’. ”

    Translate that into umnoputras’ language and the passage would read:

    “Umno is calling on the nation to make sure that generous local tycoons who make a big difference to umno are honoured by nation. They said that they believed, ‘the significant majority of honours should, in their view, go to people who serve umnoputras.”

  13. Investment is totally different from giving away datukship? what a comparison. Which country doesn’t need foreign investment?

    But I have never seen a foreigner being KNIGHTED just because he/she filmed in UK.

  14. Looks like the Malacca Govt has to bend backwards to award Shah Rukh Khan a datukship. How stupid is that? This shows that he has no respect for the Malaaca Govt. If that is the case why want to give him the datukship?
    Are we very sure that it is because of the film that lots of Indians visited Malaysia? Is it in the disembarkation card that visitors from India indicate that their visit is due from seeing the film? We presume so.
    The Malacca Govt looks very stupid and small with giving such an award when the recipient is not keen to receive it. Shah Rukh Khan doesn’t think the award is of any significant to his current status and that is why he makes no attempt to keep the date free. If the award is of value to him, he will surely find the time and effort to come and get it.

    So Malacca Govt, do you get it!!! He is snubbing you!!!

  15. Goes to show how much the man values the Datukship, and what’s the value of the Datukship itself. I say good for him. If the Melaka government has got any respect left in them, they should just cancel the Datukship.

  16. Shah Rukh Khan is not a stupid person. He knows full well that once he accepts the datukship, he will have to “contribute money” yearly to the Melacca government. Moreover, the title “Dato” is not going to help him become more famous as not many people in India or the world know what “Dato” means, let alone pay respect to the title.

  17. Datuk ? too common , how about Tan Sri or Tun ??? Isn’t tat better than a Datukship ?

    when Melaka govt wanted to award the Bollywood actor datukship , locals make so much noise , because of such outbursts i think the actor had 2nd thoughts over this awards…………….

  18. The most absurd of all should be the Highest award from Sabah given to a rebel from neighboring country. Yong Teck Lee was the Chief Minister then. The Senior Datuk was lated arrested in Sabah being the most wanted in the neighboring country. Say something also lah, future Datuk Lim KS.

  19. Bo**doh tak makan sayur. If I am Shah, I won’t give a damn to this stupid ‘datuk’ship. Datuk Michelle is /was a Malaysian, that’s a different story altogether. She had her roots down here. But Shah? Why, he doesnt need all this trivial ceremony in this tiny state of Malacca; unless , maybe sobebody can guarantee a box-office collection. Mindless politicians, what are your agenda? Focus on making life better for the rakyat, that’s your job. Spend the datukship money on cleaning the beaches so that more tourists will return to Malacaa.

  20. Hey Rustam, why not just mail the datukship medal to Shahrukh in India? You could register it for peace of mind, so that you know whether he accepted the parcel or rejected it again. If he accepts it, do pop into ebay to see if he has put the medal on auction. Who gives a damn about datukship nowadays? Even criminals are datuks and tan sris.

  21. CM Rustam is the biggest air-head in Malaysia!

    Earlier he said Daim was the one nominated Shah, so both Daim the most corrupted politician in Malaysia and Rustam the biggest air-head in Malaysia are both stupid idiots in making Malaysia looks so bad in the eyes of the world!

  22. Shah Rukh is not a dum-dum. His people have probably told him about the hoo-ha here and he isn’t about to land here and find himself the star in the latest production by the Malaysian circus.

    Besides… his people have probably looked up the word dictionary and told him that datuk means “grandpa”. Very uncool to be called Granpa Shah Rukh Khan at his age.

  23. what a shame to malacca chief minister.
    all i can say is served you right.like a broom slap on ur face .
    let me tell you this Yb.
    we have few veteran actor and actress which is still alive and deserved this datuk more than shah rukh khan.
    so think about it
    thanks.

  24. I really admire Lee KY.He got his datukship from his neighbour but he never carries it.Unlike in Bolehland,people in Singapore and also in many developed countries are simple and very happy with just Mr or Miss.Here the people are just childish including the so called national leaders.Why they choose to lengthen their already very long names?

  25. would a recipient of an honorary knighthood from QE2 insult her by dictating his own terms on when to receive the award? This bollywood chap is insulting the YDPN and Melaka is allowing its head of state to be belittled and insulted by some thespian? Why don’t YDPN go to India and present the award to him on his movie set? The ceremony will be filmed and the Khan will be sitting on a throne while the award is given to him by groveling officials. I am sure the Khan would gladly accept the award on those terms.

  26. Just hows how much Bollywood stars care about Malaysian titles! By now they would have found out that any stone thrown at a Malaysian crowd would hit more titled guys than Commoners!
    Only our money-spinning leaders would love to continue to give away titles [ of it is a known fact that many local business cronies and little politicians are paying big monies for those titles] during such occasions. Otherwise they have nothing to offer!

  27. Strange things happening right now.
    Malacca CM being snubbed by Rukh Khan…for the useless title award.
    Negri Royalty being sued by Bruce Willis.
    Note both are actors…..and filthy rich??
    Bruce said Mel Gibson..,,also have something to do with this Negri Sembilan royalty.
    The famous Pyramid Scheme….got thousands of Malaysian suckers….invested and cheated…by the millions.
    Same thing..promised great profits and money refund guaranteed…..by bringing you to a huge well manage office..to get your confidence…to sort of hypnotize you…to make sure you love all the good news and invest.
    That was 40 years ago,.,.,.,.and people have short memories. People will be greedy and history will repeat itself.

  28. Some people think that having a longer name will make us more humane, more charitable, feel more important, a better person than the one beside us,holier than thou, richer than you and I, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. These are but silly thoughts, especially when the awards titles are not given based on quality merits. Does having longer names make us more human – not necessarily so, I believe.

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