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The Star/Asia News Network
Thursday, Jun 27, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR - A week after his face appeared in the newspaper, a recipient of the unrecognised Dato Kehormat Undang Naning award has claimed that he was led to believe the award was genuine and he almost paid RM90,000 (S$36,210) for it.
Sebestian Koh, 49, said there were over 100 recipients that day receiving one of three titles - Datuk Seri, Datuk Paduka and Datuk.
Koh also refuted a statement by Malacca's Undang Luak of Naning, Dato' Seri Raja Merah Dato' Abdul Latif Hashim, that he did not confer the title.
Showing photographs of him receiving the award at the "balai rasmi" in Simpang Ampat, Malacca, on Feb 16, Koh said: "I think the confusion must have arisen because there were so many people being awarded titles that day, so he (Abdul Latif) might not have remembered me.
"I was told by a friend, who also received the award, that it was recognised by the Government. He said I could even include the title in my MyKad and passport. Although I had never heard of the award, I decided to accept it since they were conferring it on me anyway."
Koh was speaking to reporters at the MCA Public Service and Com*plaints Department yesterday.
The Star had front-paged the issue of questionable titles conferred by Naning chieftains and interviewed Abdul Latif and Ahmad Shah Raja Noor Jan Shah, who claimed to be the "Malacca-Perak Sultan".
Abdul Latif had said that the investiture ceremony to confer titles was purely customary and the awards were merely customary titles with no connection to those bestowed by the Malacca Government.
In November last year, Koh said his friend, a certain "Datuk" Teoh, had called to inform him about the Datukship and handed over a "surat watikah".
He said he was also informed about the RM90,000 "standard donation" for the title, which would be "contributed" to the Naning territory.
Before the investiture ceremony, Koh said he paid RM6,000 for a yellow sash with red stripes, a medal with the words "Dato Kehormat" and a card identifying him as a title holder.
When asked if he knew that the award was dubious, Koh admitted that he did know that the historical state had no sultan.
"The one conferring the title claimed to be a descendant of the Malacca sultanate and I asked around to check if this was true," he said, confessing however that this was not done thoroughly as whatever information he had, coupled with Teoh's persuasion, made everything "look very real".
A few months after he accepted the award, Koh said his friends asked if they could advertise their congratulatory messages, to which he agreed.
"Only after The Star article on the Datuks of Naning was published did I realise that I had received an unrecognised award. My friends are laughing at me for being a recipient of a fake award. It is very embarrassing."
When asked about his next move, Koh said he would not lodge a police report but had set aside the award and moved on.
On whether the award might be revoked if he did not settle the "standard donation", Koh waved it off as a non-issue, adding that "it was not recognised anyway".
