HEY, PROF, DOC…YOU HAVE THE FORTIES MENTALITY!
…WAKE UP AND BE RECOGNIZED FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING NOW THAN WHAT PAPERS YOU HAVE GOT ON THE WALLS OF YOUR OFFICES.
By Mansor Puteh
IN THE FORTIES AND ITS WEREABOUTS, MALAYSIANS AND MOSTLY THE MELAYU LIKED TO BE CALLED FOR THE JOBS THEY WERE HOLDING AT THAT TIME.
AND BEING ABLE TO WORK AS CLERKS AND SCHOOL TEACHERS BROUGHT ALONG SOME BENEFITS.
THOSE WHO WERE CLERKS AND TEACHERS OR EVEN MANDORE AND THE LIKE WERE REFERRED TO AS SUCH, LIKE THEY ARE TITLES THAT THEY COULD CARRY WITH THEM EVERYWHERE.
And they were right. Everybody treated them well with a lot of respect.
Even actresses were called Seniwati. But not these days.
In those days, the British were the ones who were holding such posts, but later some locals and especially the educated Melayu men and some other women were given the tasks.
So no wonder they held the post in high stead and wanted to be described as such.
But that was the Forties, Fifties and right up to the Sixties and into the Seventies right to the present time…
In fact, the problem is worse now than it was before, when there are many universities in the country and abroad which produces scores of hundreds of graduates with professional and academic specialization. So all of them have titles before their names.
The problem as many and especially I see it has not changed.
So instead of wanting to be described as teachers, clerks, mandores and the like, they are now calling themselves from the posts they are holding.
So we have Professor or Prof, Doctor or Doc, and so on.
Even academic posts are classified or reclassified as titles. And no wonder Emeritus Professors are put in front of the names of those who are given such posts.
Worse, even Adjunct Professors and Associate Professors are also using the post description as titles that they can affix to their names, and carry from one university to the other and not enough with that they also take them to the departments where they serve later.
Some die with them attached to their names.
How shameful that there are some Malaysians who do not know what to do with their post descriptions. They only know how to use them. But they hardly use them for professional use.
And not forgetting even the Engineers and Architects are insisting that they be described or referred by their own profession. So they are Engineer or Ir, or Architect or Ar So and so…
In developed countries, one does not even use their Doctor title even if he is a medical doctor. Here in Malaysia even animal and whatever doctors are using their titles, especially those who have doctorates, including and especially those who had got them from the internet universities.
Yet, they do not seem to be able to hold on to them to speak intelligently on whatever that they thought they had studied and researched for which they managed to get their doctorates from.
And not wanting to lose, even former military officers also use their post descriptions, so now we have Retired Sergeant, Retired Captain and the like.
We have yet to see Retired Crooks, Retired Corrupt Persons and the like. That’s because these are life-long jobs or calling.
When can Malaysia see people who used to be professors, sergeants and so on do away with their job descriptions and be called by their own names so we know who they are and not what they were?
That won’t be easy to do. It will take a long time before this can happen before Malaysia can be at par with the other developed countries whose qualified persons do not care for titles and their job descriptions but on what they do and contribute to their countries now.
It is sickening how the Profs, Docs, Retired this and Retired that who would flash their retired posts in their name cards and even admitting that they are now part of their name.
What’s your name?
Retired General, Professor, Doctor So and So…
Is that a name or what? It cannot be a name. A name is just what’s written in your MyKad, which is plain and simple. It’s either Ali bin Abu or Wong Tak Tau and so on.
Professional and other honorific titles are only good at special places and not everywhere.
When will it all end?
When some Malaysians start to revolt at such a revolting behavior of those Malaysians who like to flaunt their titles and other attributes and professional experience with some even referring themselves in those titles in the first person.
‘This is how Doctor thinks,’ as some of them would say, when as ‘What does Doctor think?’
He does not have a name anymore; he has been reduced to his title or titles.
In America former presidents are allowed to be referred to as such even after they are kicked out of office or retire gracefully. They are okay since the number of them who had been forced out of The White House is small.
And most of them are still recognizable persons and anywhere they are they are recognized and respected. So in the end the still do not need to be referred to as President So and So. They can stand on their own, post-White House.
Unfortunately, this is not the case with the other lesser mortals who have to use their titles or else no one would know who they are. They do not know what they had done in the past, so they cannot be remembered for having done anything exceptional.
But I don’t remember even in the Forties, Americans or the British were using their professional, academic and honorific titles affixed to their names. They liked to be called by their own names.
So where did this fascination for titles come from in Malaysia?
One rough guess could be with the fascination many Malaysians have on those titles that were given to important characters in the early history of the country. The effect is still felt today.
In other words, Malaysia and many Malaysians are still stuck in the Forties mentality.
By Mansor Puteh
IN THE FORTIES AND ITS WEREABOUTS, MALAYSIANS AND MOSTLY THE MELAYU LIKED TO BE CALLED FOR THE JOBS THEY WERE HOLDING AT THAT TIME.
AND BEING ABLE TO WORK AS CLERKS AND SCHOOL TEACHERS BROUGHT ALONG SOME BENEFITS.
THOSE WHO WERE CLERKS AND TEACHERS OR EVEN MANDORE AND THE LIKE WERE REFERRED TO AS SUCH, LIKE THEY ARE TITLES THAT THEY COULD CARRY WITH THEM EVERYWHERE.
And they were right. Everybody treated them well with a lot of respect.
Even actresses were called Seniwati. But not these days.
In those days, the British were the ones who were holding such posts, but later some locals and especially the educated Melayu men and some other women were given the tasks.
So no wonder they held the post in high stead and wanted to be described as such.
But that was the Forties, Fifties and right up to the Sixties and into the Seventies right to the present time…
In fact, the problem is worse now than it was before, when there are many universities in the country and abroad which produces scores of hundreds of graduates with professional and academic specialization. So all of them have titles before their names.
The problem as many and especially I see it has not changed.
So instead of wanting to be described as teachers, clerks, mandores and the like, they are now calling themselves from the posts they are holding.
So we have Professor or Prof, Doctor or Doc, and so on.
Even academic posts are classified or reclassified as titles. And no wonder Emeritus Professors are put in front of the names of those who are given such posts.
Worse, even Adjunct Professors and Associate Professors are also using the post description as titles that they can affix to their names, and carry from one university to the other and not enough with that they also take them to the departments where they serve later.
Some die with them attached to their names.
How shameful that there are some Malaysians who do not know what to do with their post descriptions. They only know how to use them. But they hardly use them for professional use.
And not forgetting even the Engineers and Architects are insisting that they be described or referred by their own profession. So they are Engineer or Ir, or Architect or Ar So and so…
In developed countries, one does not even use their Doctor title even if he is a medical doctor. Here in Malaysia even animal and whatever doctors are using their titles, especially those who have doctorates, including and especially those who had got them from the internet universities.
Yet, they do not seem to be able to hold on to them to speak intelligently on whatever that they thought they had studied and researched for which they managed to get their doctorates from.
And not wanting to lose, even former military officers also use their post descriptions, so now we have Retired Sergeant, Retired Captain and the like.
We have yet to see Retired Crooks, Retired Corrupt Persons and the like. That’s because these are life-long jobs or calling.
When can Malaysia see people who used to be professors, sergeants and so on do away with their job descriptions and be called by their own names so we know who they are and not what they were?
That won’t be easy to do. It will take a long time before this can happen before Malaysia can be at par with the other developed countries whose qualified persons do not care for titles and their job descriptions but on what they do and contribute to their countries now.
It is sickening how the Profs, Docs, Retired this and Retired that who would flash their retired posts in their name cards and even admitting that they are now part of their name.
What’s your name?
Retired General, Professor, Doctor So and So…
Is that a name or what? It cannot be a name. A name is just what’s written in your MyKad, which is plain and simple. It’s either Ali bin Abu or Wong Tak Tau and so on.
Professional and other honorific titles are only good at special places and not everywhere.
When will it all end?
When some Malaysians start to revolt at such a revolting behavior of those Malaysians who like to flaunt their titles and other attributes and professional experience with some even referring themselves in those titles in the first person.
‘This is how Doctor thinks,’ as some of them would say, when as ‘What does Doctor think?’
He does not have a name anymore; he has been reduced to his title or titles.
In America former presidents are allowed to be referred to as such even after they are kicked out of office or retire gracefully. They are okay since the number of them who had been forced out of The White House is small.
And most of them are still recognizable persons and anywhere they are they are recognized and respected. So in the end the still do not need to be referred to as President So and So. They can stand on their own, post-White House.
Unfortunately, this is not the case with the other lesser mortals who have to use their titles or else no one would know who they are. They do not know what they had done in the past, so they cannot be remembered for having done anything exceptional.
But I don’t remember even in the Forties, Americans or the British were using their professional, academic and honorific titles affixed to their names. They liked to be called by their own names.
So where did this fascination for titles come from in Malaysia?
One rough guess could be with the fascination many Malaysians have on those titles that were given to important characters in the early history of the country. The effect is still felt today.
In other words, Malaysia and many Malaysians are still stuck in the Forties mentality.
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