The topic of multilingual signboards in Malaysia has become a hot topic online.
Social advocate, @lady_bugg11, took to her X page to call out a Facebook user for allegedly editing an image of a signage at KL Sentral to make it look like Bahasa Malaysia (BM) was left out.
She wrote, “When PMX, Anwar Ibrahim, asked Malaysians to increase their skills in other languages such as Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) for example, they were shaken.”
“Is the country being mortgaged due to languages? When our country consists of many races? We are unaccepting, it seems. I’ll give you an example of a signboard that had gone viral.”
The signboard in question was posted by a Facebook user, with the caption, “Language is the heart of a culture. If you want to kill the culture, kill their language.”
The image showcased in the post showed that the signage at KL Sentral only contained symbols accompanied by Japanese writing.
Firstly, @lady_bugg11 took the time to clarify that the language is Japanese, not Chinese, as many assumed that it was Chinese. She then pointed out that the image posted by the Facebook page was allegedly edited.
“The text ‘KLIA Ekspress’ and ‘KLIA Transit’ has been edited out by the owner of the (Facebook) account. Just look at the empty space above the Japanese text, in the second and third lines. The first line has the word ‘Platform’ but the next lines are left blank? The alignment is also off. Nice touch, right?”
The Japanese text is meant as a tribute
“The Japanese text is actually a tribute to the architect of KL Sentral, Dr. Kisho Kurokawa. We shouldn’t want to show our appreciation in a language that only we understand. Eh, we’re global!” she continued.
She also explained that should there be a lack of the national language in KL Sentral, it may not be Anwar Ibrahim’s fault.
“If the PM wants to ‘kill’ the language, this has actually been happening since 2001, when KL Sentral opened. The PM at the time? Mahathir, who is now adored by many people. The lesson of ‘language is important’ has also gone nowhere,” she added.
What do you think about this entire situation? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
Also read: M’sian Advocate Says Tourists Who Want M’sia to be Like Their Own Country Should Not Come Here
