When I write no matter to who that person is, I will always start with the word "Dear" even when I send text messages. Official letters uses the word Dear as salutation, like most lawyers do e.g. Dear Sirs, Dear Messrs. The word "Dear" is not weird to me as I have been using it since I was 3 years old on every note that I ever wrote to my parents and friends.
About 10 years ago, I realized that this was not a norm in my local community when I sent a text message to my student and she was confused thinking that I was courting her. Later she got the chance to explain to me that she learnt that from school.
So here is my argument on this matter.
When we write "Dear Puan Maimon" it is a salutation of respect that we show towards that person that literally translates as "Puan Maimon yang dikasihi".
The word "dikasihi" does not mean I love her; it simply means I don't hate her and I am not her enemy. It simply means that we are writing either with good intentions or we are simply doing our job and following orders as so it is not personal.
