A rather surprising remark

1. A comment dated January 24, 2016 by Din Merican in his blog read thus:

These guys, petty bureaucrats, do not know that I (was)* awarded a Datoship by Tuanku Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah, now King for the second time, several years ago. My Grand Uncle, Dato Ismail Merican, Legal Adviser of Kedah under Tuanku Sultan Abdul Hamid was the first in my family to receive the award. My late Mother received the BCK, Bintang Cemerlang Keadah (Kedah)*–Din Merican

2. The second statement in the comment above had indeed surprised me because it suggested that:

• Din Merican is a distant nephew of mine,
• my late father, (Md)* Ismail Merican, had been Legal Adviser of Kedah,
• my father had been awarded a datoship by the Sultan of Kedah. 

3. Nobody on my father’s side came to visit him when he was on his last legs, as far as I can remember. From newspaper reports and articles that I have dug up from the internet and libraries, I believe that a few of his nephews stayed and worked in Kedah at the time of his declining years. But my siblings and I had never become acquainted with any of them or their children. I can’t say what my father’s relationship with his relatives was like. But I believe he was not keen to bring his children close to his relatives. So, after his death our relationship with his side of the family had broken up entirely.

4. As far as I know, my father had never been Legal Adviser of Kedah during his time in the Kedah Civil Service. However, he had been appointed Acting Legal Adviser in place of one Mr. C. W. Dawson according to an announcement in the Straits Time, 7 September 1935.

5. My father had never been awarded a datoship, as far as I can remember. If he were to be awarded a datoship, his next of kin would have been notified of the occasion. Moreover, a reliable source at Wisma Darul Aman had confirmed that Md Ismail Merican had never been awarded a datoship either during his lifetime or posthumously.

*Mine in brackets.