Living up to standards of royalty

THE word “royal” is associated with members of royalty such as a king, queen, prince or princess. It also signifies “excellence”. For example, when a corporation, club or other organisation has royal patronage, it means that it has acquired a standard of excellence or reputation befitting its name.

Royalty in Britain signifies every­thing you could wish for: it means that you belong to the highest social level even beyond the aristocracy, with accompanying great wealth and the expectation of good taste.

It is associated with all the greatest pomp and pageantry, and this has been true in England since the days of the early Norman kings.

People say the British love their royalty more than any other nation although the Japanese and the Thais will dispute this, even if they are less expressive and more subdued in their adulation.

It’s understandable that in these countries, members of the royal houses are revered by the people as they exemplify high achievement, excellence, bravery and other qualities that the country wishes to showcase to the world through their monarchs.

Royals in these countries graduate from the best schools, serve in the military and undertake social work in helping communities in difficult places all over the world.

I have no doubt that Malaysians too love their royalty, but I think that members of the royal houses will endear themselves to the ­rakyat a lot more if the latter can freely express their views about them.

If people are allowed to do that, I think that the royals will get good feedback which always helps make us better people, whether we are royalty or commoners.

However, we have many restrictive laws that regulate what we can say about our royals, and the result is that there is hardly any feedback that we can give.

The law that was meant to protect Malaysian royalty has unintentionally become the very thing that has deprived them of real feedback from the people, and they are worse off for it.

Coming back to the word “royal”, I am fortunate to be a member of a golf club with royal patronage, and there are many such clubs all over the country.

In my frequent travels throughout Malaysia to improve my golfing skills (I now play to handicap 29), I’ve noticed that some of these clubs need some “spring cleaning” and that they should try a bit harder to do justice to the “royal” in their names.

I will not disclose the names of these clubs as I know Malaysians are sensitive people who will not take too kindly to criticism, no matter how appropriate or useful it might be.

Besides, I’ve done enough “straight talking” over the years to know the damage done in adopting such a style, so I now need to be tactful and politically correct to get by.

Club A has a lot of money but lacks leadership. There have been frequent changes to the club captaincy and as a result, the club cannot give the best to its members despite being regarded as one of the best in the country.

It has the word “royal” in its name so it really should aspire to be the best, but I don’t mean they have to be lavish in their spending or forget their priorities in providing good greens and fairways.

It is a golf club after all, but what harm would it do to have new towels, an additional dry ultraviolet sauna and better lockers to make members happy?

Club B is located on the way to Kuala Selangor. It too has the word “royal” in its name and is probably the oldest golf club in the country.

Its remote location amid oil palm estates does not attract high-spending golfers and I am sure the subscription is minimal, so it’s to be expected that the facilities are sparse and below the expectations of city golfers.

Here, I appeal to the Selangor state government to spend some money to upgrade the club and its facilities because I believe there are things from our past that we must try to treasure and maintain in good condition.

It’s the responsibility of the government or the relevant local authority to maintain the cultural and sporting activities of the state or municipality, and it is such a shame that a club with a long history should be allowed to wither away and die.

Up north, I have had the privilege of playing at Club C, which is a superb “royal” club. I must say that it is one of my favourites because it has wide fairways with manicured greens that will leave golfers fully satisfied after their day’s outing.

Sadly, the breakfast menu is hardly befitting a club that has the “royal” name and being part of a city that is famous for its food, it is most disappointing that we cannot get to sample the same kind of cuisine at this famous club.

The shower facilities can also be improved and again, the towels are of the lowest quality. We can safely say that a golf club can be judged by the quality of the towels in its locker room.

Showing respect to our royalty does not mean that we just kiss the hands of our Rulers at state functions or show off the various titles bestowed on the elites of society.

It means doing the little things that we definitely are able to do with clubs that carry the “royal” title, with particular attention given to having attractive landscapes, flowers in full bloom and standards of cleanliness that we can be proud of.

Anyway, providing members with the best facilities the clubs can offer is the surest way for club committees to get re-elected.

• Former de facto Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim ([e-mail]) is now a legal consultant. The views expressed here are entirely his own.