In Malaysia One’s Title Means Everything

Every Malay who is anybody has a title, from the duli yang maha mulia seri paduka baginda yang di-pertuan agong --that’s the king--to each haji and hajah who makes the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

Tun , tan seri and datuk are among the many hereditary or conferred titles borne by leading citizens.

Proper ways of addressing a Malay are diverse and complicated. Family names are relatively unimportant as long as the title is used correctly. Improper usage may cause offense.

Some titles are gained at birth, others given as rewards for service to government or nation. To the ordinary encik (mister), titles and forms of address can be confusing.

The king’s title means, approximately, “his most glorious majesty who is raised most high.” In English, “your majesty” is usually enough. The queen, or seri baginda raja permaisuri agong , also is “your majesty.”

Malaysia is unique in having a monarchy that rotates among royal families. Nine of the 13 states have royal families, whose leaders take turns being king of the entire nation for five years at a time.

Passing the throne around solved a sticky protocol problem when Malaysia shed colonial ties with Britain in 1957. None of the nine state rulers would have been accepted by the other eight as permanent king and Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was prime minister, devised the method of sharing glory.

Children of the state rulers usually are called tunku or tengku , loosely equivalent to prince or princess. Tunku Rahman, for example, is of royal descent.

Niks and megats are those with royal blood on the mother’s side. Syeds and their female counterparts, sharifahs , claim to be directly descended from the prophet Mohammed, from royal families of the Malay archipelago, or both.

A man honored for distinguished service to the nation becomes a tun and his wife a toh puan . The title is Malaysia’s highest order of chivalry, limited to 25 living men.

When Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohammed retires, officials say, he probably will become Tun Mahathir. He is a medical doctor and was made a dato seri years ago for his contributions to public life.

The non-hereditary title tan seri is given to the recipient of either of Malaysia’s two second-highest orders of chivalry for non-royals.

Datuks , and the variants datuk seri and dato , are numerous and their wives are datins . The title is non-hereditary and its basic meaning is grandfather.

In higher social circles, practically everybody is a datuk , whether Malay, Chinese or Indian.

A common compliment is to call a man dato before he has been so designated. Few object, except the very modest.

The highlight of the king’s official birthday, celebrated on the first Wednesday of June, is the conferral of hundreds of awards and titles. Hundreds more are issued each year by the 13 states, with datuk in the majority.

Tuan means sir in Malay, and is used informally to address an elderly person or someone of prominence or wealth. Tuan yang terutama , the Malay translation of excellency, is applied to heads of diplomatic missions and the governors of the four states without royal families.

Puan , or madame, often is used to refer to married women. A single women is called cik .

Haji and hajah are the titles for men and women who have made a pilgrimage, or hajj , to Mecca and performed certain acts required on a pilgrimage.

In Malay usage, bin means “son of” and binte means “daughter of.” The part of the name before it is the given name, and the part after is the name of the person’s father.

Names can be as confusing as titles. The prime minister is Mahathir Mohamad, the information minister is Mohamed Rahmat and thousands of others spell the name Mohamat, Muhamat, Muhhammad and even Mohd.

In 1988, the government decreed the official version of the prophet’s name to be Muhammad. Those already born and named with other spellings were excused from compliance.