Friday, November 13, 2009

What's with the "Tuan'?

One poster announced the date & venue of a talk for young PTD.
Written there was the name of the speaker, beginning with "Tuan".
Being a senior officer, I recognize his name and I know that his name does not start with "Tuan". I found that a bit funny - to be addressed as "tuan" in his capacity as a senior officer is one thing, to have his name written as "Tuan XYZ" on the poster announcing the details of a talk is another.

Next to the poster was another poster announcing the details of a workshop, " Do Your Make up Right". The speaker is a reknown male Lancome make-up artist. Nope, no "Tuan" there in his name. Just his name.

Granted, you can't compare a senior PTD to a make-up artist. But was it really necessary to write the former's name beginning with "Tuan"? What's wrong with just "Encik"?

I asked another PTD and she said that "Tuan" is a symbol of respect while "Encik" is too common, you can address simply anybody, the support staff included, as "Encik", but "Tuan" is reserved to the respected ones only.

I must admit that sometimes I feel uneasy when people say that we PTD are a snobbish and arrogant lot. That we like to distance ourselves from the "marha'en". That we, after years of being told to be the "creme de la creme" in the government service, are a Syok Sendiri lot who have huge tendencies to "berlagak", "bongkak", "sombong". But this is exactly the kind of behavior that might lead to the misperception of PTD being the snobbish and arrogant lot. Why do we need to distinguish "Tuan" from "Encik" just because "Encik" is a common way to address everybody? What made us so special?

I don't believe in distancing myself from the support staff or lower officer. That was not the example shown by Rasulullah - he never distanced himself from anybody. If Rasulullah, the numero uno for Muslims never distanced himself from others, who are we - hamba Allah yang serba dhaif - to do so?

So, I found the "Tuan" thingy on the poster a bit disturbing. It is as if we PTD are full of ourselves - when one cannot address a senior PTD with a Dr. or Dato'/Datuk/Tan Sri etc, it has to be "Tuan" then. Addressing a person with "tuan" in real life or in a formal letter/memo does not sound so bad - but on a poster? I mean, seriously?

Again, my question is - what's wrong with using the good ol' "Encik"?
If an 'Encik' was equated to 'Mister', and 'Tuan' to 'Sir', what's wrong with being addressed as a Mister and not a Sir?

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