KUCHING, Aug 22 — Sarawak DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) will arrange for the removal of the stickers of road names in Chinese characters that they attached to three road signs within the jurisdiction of Kuching North City Commission (DBKU).
Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen said he had a meeting with the Dapsy leaders last night and they have agreed to carry out three things.
He said aside from removing the Chinese characters that they have put on the three roads signs of Jalan Main Bazaar, Wayang Street and Jalan Greenhill, Dapsy Kuching chief Daphne Ting would also go to DBKU on Monday to accept whatever compound notice that DBKU will issue in respect of the alleged vandalism.
He said at the same time, the Dapsy chief will also present a formal letter of request, asking DBKU to restore the road signs to being bilingual.
“To save DBKU money we will also print out the Chinese characters for the names of the three streets, enclosed together with the letter of request to DBKU,” he told a press conference at DAP headquarters here today.
The Stampin MP noted that the issue here was very clear, pointing out that “multilingual road signs have been in Sarawak for a long time” and it is a special feature, tradition and culture of all Sarawakians.
He alleged that in recent years, it has come to their notice that, especially in DBKU areas, the multilingual road signs have been replaced with monolingual ones.
He lamented that the action by DBKU had “eroded that special legacy and tradition”.
“This was confirmed yesterday by the DBKU Mayor, who said it was the policy of DBKU to put up a single language road sign.
“To us, this is something that is against the spirit of multiculturalism and harmonious racial relations in Sarawak,” he said.
Chong, who is also Kota Sentosa assemblyman, urged DBKU to restore what has been there, saying it is not something new, but it is something that had been there all this while.
“Yes, Dapsy may have jumped the gun, but the spirit of what they have done is to preserve our culture and attractions,” he added.
On Thursday, former Stampin MP Julian Tan led a group of Sarawak Dapsy members to paste the stickers of the road names written in Chinese characters on several road signs in the city on the grounds that they need to be translated for the needs of tourists from China. — Borneo Post Online
