Chinese signboards were a state government decision, says FT minister
Soo Wern Jun
-November 20, 2018 1:05 PM=
Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad.PUTRAJAYA: Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad today said the decision to use road signs written in Chinese had been made by the Selangor state government, following the sultan’s decree that such signboards in Shah Alam be removed and replaced with signboards in Malay.
Khalid, who is Shah Alam MP, said the federal government had not been aware of the decision as local authorities have jurisdiction over state matters.
“That was the decision of the Selangor government. I’m at the level of the federal territories ministry so I was not aware of their discussions,” he told reporters after attending the national Maulidur Rasul celebration at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here.
He said if a decree had already been issued by the sultan, it should be accepted as discussions had likely been held at state and local levels
However, he reiterated that he had not been involved in those discussions and did not know the background of the issue.
The decree by Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah that all signboards in Shah Alam with Chinese writing be removed and replaced with signs in Malay was relayed by his private secretary Mohamad Munir Bani in a letter to the Selangor government dated Nov 19.
“The sultan has decreed that all road signs which are written in the Chinese language must be removed and replaced with signs in a single language, which is the Malay language.
“The change must be done immediately and should be completed before the Selangor Sultan’s 73rd birthday on Dec 1,” the letter said.
Khalid said the federal government had no power to prevent other states from following the footsteps of the Selangor government.
“It’s up to the respective states as this is under state enforcement,” he said.
