Road signs in the Bukit Bintang area in Bahasa Malaysia and Arabic.
KUALA LUMPUR: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng questioned why there was no protest when Kuala Lumpur City Hall put up multilingual road signs in Bukit Bintang here.
He was met when visiting Ain Arabia, an area designated by the authorities to serve Middle Eastern tourists.
Lim has been criticised by Umno and the right-wing Malay daily Utusan Malaysia after the Penang state government decided to put up road signs in Chinese, Tamil and Arabic along with the national language in various parts of George Town, which was recently proclaimed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations cultural body Unesco.
The Ministry of Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage also protested against the move, saying it would cause disunity among the people.
"There is nothing wrong with putting up signs in other languages, like here in Arabic; language belongs to everyone, so nobody should politicise it," said Lim.
"Unless we are removing the signs in the national language, that is different, but we are merely adding other languages. If it can be done in KL why not Penang," he added.
He claimed that the issue was turned racial and manufactured by the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia, and there should be a boycott of the Malay daily by peace-loving Malaysians.
Guan Eng and Fong (right) in Ain Arabia today. — Pictures by Choo Choy May
"They just want to pit the Malays against the non-Malays. When teaching of Mathematics and Science was changed to English, I did not see them protesting when that move was a clear insult to the national language," said Lim.
Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, who accompanied Lim during the short visit, said he welcomed the move by the Penang government, which would assist tourists visiting the northern state.
"Just like Bukit Bintang, which is a tourist attraction, it should have multilingual road signs to help tourists," said Fong.
Another DAP lawmaker, Chong Chien Jen of Bandar Kuching, said having multilingual road signs is a common practice in his constituency.
"This is just another example of racial politics brought up by Umno. They have a lot to learn from Sarawak," said Chong.
"It is high time they realised that racial politics does not benefit Malaysia," he added.
By Adib Zalkapli
Malaysian Insider
10/11/08
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