Actor accepts being stripped of Datuk title

Compiled by HEMANANTHANI SIVANANDAM, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN

ACTOR and director Farid Kamil Zahari (pic) has accepted the decision by the Pahang Palace to revoke his “Datuk” title, reported Berita Harian.

“I am very proud of and honoured by the Datuk title that was awarded to me by the Pahang Palace on Dec 16,2017.

“I thank the Palace for the esteemed recognition and I accepted it humbly then (in 2017).

“Today, I also respectfully accept the decision by the Pahang Palace to revoke my Datuk title, ” he said in his Instagram post on Wednesday.

He has also disabled the comment section on his account.

The father of two added that he was now focusing on his acting career and was in the midst of promoting his latest movie Remp-it 2 which would be released this year.

On Wednesday, the Pahang Palace revoked the “Datuk” title from five individuals including Farid Kamil and Noruliman A. Rahman, who is also known as “Boy Iman”.

State Secretary Datuk Seri Dr Sallehuddin Ishak, who is also the state Registrar of Awards, said the order was issued by the Sultan of Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.

The letters of withdrawal came into effect on Feb 1.

> The Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) said there has been a 40% increase in complaints of people being harassed by Ah Long (loan sharks) since last November, reported Sinar Harian.

PPIM executive secretary Zharif Johor said about 80% of the complainants got into trouble with Ah Long after borrowing money from them because they were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Apart from daily expenses, some needed to take such loans to start their own business after they were laid off work.

“Some of them were already doing business but were also affected, so they were forced to borrow from ah long, ” he said, adding that they came to PPIM seeking help in resolving their problems.

Zharif, however, said the total amount borrowed by the complainants was not as high compared to the cases received by PPIM previously.

He added that based on the records over the past three months, some of the loans taken from Ah Long range between RM10,000 and RM200,000.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.