Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Signs

“The protest in Penang is just Umno playing race politics,” Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chien Jen was quoted to have said (see here).

Not just UMNO but also our racist newspaper, Utusan Malaysia - these people have been criticising the State government in Penang for wanting to put up multi-lingual road signs!!! What was wrong with it?

let me quote you the reason which was reported in the link above:-
The Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry also protested, saying that multi-language road signs had no benefit and would disunite the people.

Riiiiittteee!!!! These roads signs in different languages will cause disunity in our country! What a load of bollocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The hypocrisy of the whole matter has also been highlighted when it was pointed out that certain roads in KL have multi-lingual road signs! Read the report linked above!

Malaysia boleh!

2 comments:

matdene said...

Again, this is something very technical turning into a very politicised issue. With that I agree that the protest is just race politics.

It is either the national language or multi-lingual road signs. Once decided, stick to it.

I differ about the point attracting tourists though. Most of them do not travel by themselves and usually travel by tour buses. Too many road signs will just confuse people and defeats the main purpose of having them in the first place.

We have to stop sucking up to the tourists, they'll still come to our country even without those signs. All they want is what makes our country: food, culture, historical places, beaches, etc.. Do you expect Brits to talk to you in BM or Mandarin when you visit the UK? Think about it.

imissw said...

this post is not about tourism and whether we should put up multi-lingual signs or not. it's questioning what is wrong with doing so - and that we should not turn everything into race politics. it is also about the double standards imposed.

but since u mentioned it, should we not act in a certain manner just because the Brits dun do it? are our actions and responses based on wat the brits do or do not do?