“Have we become part of China?” – Tun Mahathir Lambasts New KL Malls with Many Chinese Signboards

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today took to his official social media accounts to bash new shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur, which are allegedly filled with signboards written in Chinese.

In the post, he lamented how these new malls only have signboards written in Chinese with English translations and how nothing was written in the national language, Bahasa Melayu.

Mahathir felt he “was in China” when visiting a new mall in Kuala Lumpur

Source: 123RF

At the start of the post, Tun Mahathir asserted that he often drives around Kuala Lumpur during the weekends, and sometimes, he would drop in the shopping complexes.

He then praised the malls in the capital city as great and lauded the new ones as fantastic, saying that they’re bigger and better than the shopping complexes in London, UK and Tokyo, Japan.

Source: 123RF

For illustration purposes

However, the former Prime Minister said that he suddenly felt that he “was in China” when he visited one of the new malls in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Tun Mahathir then realised why, saying,

“All the signboards are in Chinese with English translations. Nothing in Malay. Not at all. So, is this Malaysia? Or have we become a part of China?”

Source: Smithsonian Magazine

For illustration purposes

The former Prime Minister says some Chinese TV refers to Malaysia as “Little China” 

He further elaborated that if the signboards were in English, he would understand why, as malls in Japan also have English translations.

However, he couldn’t fathom having the signboards in big Chinese characters. 

Source: Tatler Asia

For illustration purposes

Tun Mahathir added,

“I was told that some Chinese TV refers to Malaysia as Little China. Why? Because, among the Southeast Asian countries, Malaysia displays Chinese characters all over, large and prominent.

“Must be because we have so many Chinese visitors. But translation in small characters, yes. But our national language is Malay.”

As of the time of writing, the post has gone viral, garnering over 3,500 likes in just 25 minutes on Facebook.

So, what do you guys think of Tun Mahathir’s comments about Chinese signboards in Kuala Lumpur malls? Share your thoughts with us in the comments. 

Also read: “Are we in New York?” – M’sian Baffled by English Signboards in KL, Says The City Should Learn from Terengganu