Allow me to comment o­n Why call Tunku 'Tengku'?

. As a former journalist, I wish to state that as a rule, any print and electronic media organisation worth its salt should have a house style. This was the inevitable standard that I discovered even when working in overseas print and media organisations.

So while there is nothing wrong for the New Straits Times to have a house style, something is surely amiss when the house style is used as a steam-roller to "flatten" or subsume a person's name under it.

This tantamounts to a display of disrespect for the person and his or her family as well as a blight and blemish o­n the upbringing of the perpetrator. You will note that I am talking about just any person, without distinguishing his or her social status.

So when it comes to the public personality involved who is none other than former Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-haj, our Bapa Malaysia, there is all the more reason that care should be taken to ensure that the name of this national property is honoured. Without the good old Tunku, there will not be a nation-state called Malaya and subsequently Malaysia.

It was the good old Tunku his inimitable style, his gregarious character, his generosity of spirit, his great ability to inspire people of all races who used his understanding nature to forge the indelible stamp of tolerance and goodwill o­n the anvil of fear and apprehension that must have nagged the leaders of the main communities in Malaya.

The same goes for the "expulsion" of Singapore. Had the good old Tunku not been around at that time, resolution to the conflict involving the strident political style of former Singaporean Prime Minister Harry Lee Kuan Yew may not have turned out the way it did.

For whatever it was worth, I recall with pride o­ne Singapore Turf Club meeting in the 1970s when the Tunku's two horses won in two races. Every time the Tunku went into the Winner's Circle to lead in the horse, the spectators, comprising mostly Singaporeans, gave him a standing ovation.

As a Malaysian, and a guest of my Singaporean friends, I remembered not wanting to stand just to see for myself what the spectators would do. When all of them stood up and clapped with gusto, I did the same with great pride and glowed in the accomplishments of the grand old man.

So let us respect and continue to respect this great man and his contributions, which are certainly larger than all of us combined.

On this score, my advice, though unsolicited, is that the New Straits Times should maintain its house style, but incorporate exceptions within that rule. That should satisfy social and national requirements.

For instance, in o­ne overseas organization where I worked, it was the general rule that the possessive noun that follows someone whose name ends with an "s" should never carry an apostrophe, as in, say, "Thomas' house" and not "Thomas's house".

The o­nly exception is that of Jesus. When it comes to Jesus, we say it is "Jesus's parable" or if we choose to, we can say the "parable of Jesus." For the life of me, I do not know the rationale used for this exception, but I followed the house style that, in this instance, never caused any harm at all.