KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 — Former prime minister turned Opposition leader Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed has been asked to return the DK (Darjah Kerabat Al-Yunusi) title to the Kelantan palace, a news portal reported today.
Quoting sources, Malaysiakini reported that Dr Mahathir received a letter from the palace on Tuesday requesting that he return the title, which was awarded to him in 2002 by then Sultan, Sultan Ismail Petra, who is the father of the Yang di-pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V.
The reason for the revocation was, however, unknown.
According to sources, Dr Mahathir is in the midst of returning the title, which was only given to 25 recipients and mainly to royalties.
The report said the title was given to Dr Mahathir for his “immense contribution to the country”.
The Kelantan palace had also recently taken back Datukship titles conferred to Amanah vice-president Husam Musa and the party’s Kelantan chapter chief Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah.
In December, Dr Mahathir had returned his awards received between 1978 and 2003 to the Selangor palace after the Selangor Sultan, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the former for referring Bugis people as “pirates”.
