Of state awards, and some forgotten heroes

THE history of the granting of the State Awards every year on the birthday of the Head of State started during the era of the Brooke Rajahs, given out to recognise exceptional service rendered to the then-Kingdom of Sarawak.

The original awards became obsolete when Sarawak became a British Crown Colony in 1946, and between then and 1963, similar awards had been given by the Queen of England and the Commonwealth.

Sarawak’s own awards system was revived by the state government in 1964; overhauled in 1988; and in 2003, a new highest award of Satria Bintang Sarawak was instituted.

There are currently 21 ranks within the State Awards system:

• Pehin Sri – Satria Bintang Sarawak (SBS), Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of Sarawak, limited to only nine recipients at one time;
• Datuk Patinggi – Datuk Patinggi Bintang Kenyalang;
• Datuk Amar – Datuk Amar Bintang Kenyalang;
• Dato Sri – Panglima Negara Bintang Sarawak (PNBS);
• Datuk – Panglima Gemilang Bintang Kenyalang (PGBK);
• Datu – Darjah Jasa Bakti Sarawak (DJBS);
• Dato – Panglima Setia Bintang Sarawak (PSBS);
• Johan Bintang Sarawak;
• Johan Bintang Kenyalang;
• Johan Perkhidmatan Cemerlang;
• Pingat Perkhidmatan Cemerlang;
• Pingat Perwira Negeri – Gold;
• Pingat Perwira Negeri – Silver;
• Pingat Perwira Negeri – Bronze;
• Pegawai Bintang Sarawak;
• Pegawai Bintang Kenyalang;
• Pingat Perkhidmatan Bakti;
• Ahli Bintang Sarawak;
• Ahli Bintang Kenyalang;
• Pingat Perkhidmatan Terpuji, and;
• Bentara Bintang Sarawak.

Besides these state awards, there are also various other orders and medals being granted by either the Yang Di-Pertua Negeri or the Premier for various services or honours.

On top of these, there are federal awards from the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong and the Prime Minister.

On Oct 12 this year, a total of 1,046 individuals were conferred state honours in conjunction with the 78th birthday of the Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak Tun Pehin Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

It is customary that such honours are bestowed upon those who have rendered exceptional services to the state in one way or another. The criteria have never been made public, but it has been observed that recommendations are the usual route to start with, and special vetting by the system, including clearances by the Special Branch and Insolvency Department, are the normal procedures.

Political affiliation, business acumen and public achievements are definitely included, with much lobbying usually being done behind closed doors.

The current state appears to be heavily tilted towards bolstering the morale of the civil service.

To be sure, this is not unusual as every country does this – from the old colonial masters Great Britain to the United States, the awards and honours would always be granted to those who are supporters of the ruling political powers that be.

However, it is also common practice to reward those from outside the political, business and civil service arenas as well. The usual practice allocates from between a low of 25 per cent to a high of 35 per cent of all awards given at any one time to non-affiliated individuals.

The non-affiliated individuals would come under the category of the creative arts, culture, literature, sports, entrepreneurship, academia and private businesses, as well as those in the leisure and tourism business, entertainments and events, while not forgetting that all important charitable and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as well as various societies and religious organisations.

I can remember rather vividly that during the early years of the awards system, during my school days, after 1964 when they were first given, the honourees were few in number (usually just a handful of ‘Datuks’), and there were certain years when none were given – not a list as long as over 1,000 names!

I also recall that it was a genuine honour, with the awardees feeling rather awesome and the public response being suitably impressed with the ‘newly-titled’ honourees, be it a Datuk or just an Ahli Bintang Sarawak.

Those being given the highly regarded awards were great achievers, important figures in their fields – be it in sports, the civil service, business, academia or politics.

They were few in numbers and the public perception was that they had deserved their given awards.

Today, we often see names being awarded to whom ‘Mr Joe Public’ has no idea who he or she is, or what he or she has done to deserve such an honour.

Those in the know sometimes would wag their tongues and simply ask themselves: “How did she deserve that title?”

I am quite certain that if some research were to be done and some layman detective were to scour the titles and names with the aim of distinguishing between the professions and businesses of recent awardees in recent years, they would discover that besides civil servants, the main cast of characters would be the politicians and the business people.

So I would like to pose this simple question – what has happened to the non-civil servants and non-politicians?

Where are the deserving outliers in our society: those who had contributed in so many other ways other than being a government servant, a politico, or a businessman?

Where are the nominees from the field of sports, the world of books, cinema and entertainment?

The ‘Ambassadors of Sarawak’ – those whose work has benefited Sarawak here and overseas, their involvement and their ‘selling of Sarawak’ to the world?

The craftspeople, artisans, promoters, tourism practitioners, culinary writers, chefs and digital influencers?

Doubtless to say, there are many dozens of names of those who are deserving of being honoured in one way or another, and bestowing a title is just the beginning.

Nevertheless, to all those awarded this year, my heartiest congratulations to you all. May the Good Lord continue to bless you in all your future endeavours.

Amen.

* The opinions expressed in this article are the columnist’s own and do not reflect the view of the newspaper.