Tussle over giant roadside Umno signboard

City says party does not have a permit, Penang Umno insists sign must stay

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Umno and the city council are at loggerheads over a street-level signboard outside Menara Umno, its party headquarters building at the junction of Jalan Zainal Abidin and Macalister Road.

The city council, contending the signboard was illegally erected, has said it would remove the structure in a week.

A team of 20 council enforcement workers were confronted by a group of people said to be from the building’s management who refused to allow the signboard to be taken down.

The council team lodged a police report at Patani Road station, Star Online reported.

However, city councillor Ong Ah Teong of the licensing committee, was quoted as saying the council had attempted to demolish the signboard because Penang Umno had not obtained a permit.

Umno had been informed earlier that the signboard had been erected illegally but had reportedly refused to comply, Ong said, quoted by The Star. “They promised to send in their application. But the next morning, we were shocked to see everything was already in place. That’s why we moved in after serving them a notice.”

State Umno chairman Zainal Abidin Osman was adamant the signboard would stay. “We will apply for the permit the council say we need … even if they ask us to apply for ten permits, we will do so. But in the interim, the structure will not be removed,” he said, quoted by NST Online.

The headquarters building already bears a two-storey-high signboard with the words “Menara Umno” and the party symbol on the facade fronting Macalister Road.

The new signboard shows the party name Umno with 2m-high letters.

City councillor Joseph Ng Soon Siang of the financial management committee, quoted by NST Online, said the council would not simply remove a political party’s logo in a public area unless there were some technicalities involved or complaints had been received. He suggested that perhaps Umno had not made a proper application for council approval.

Zainal, however, accused the DAP-led state government for using the council in a political attack. He said the structure was on land owned by JKP Sdn Bhd, and the council was required to give the building owners 30 days’ notice on non-compliance with procedures.

He said Umno had already been in discussions with the council, which had requested that the party apply for a permit to place the signboard there. “We were going to submit the detailed documentation needed for the permit and we had agreed to send it by Monday morning, but on Friday afternoon, they
had already taken action,” Zainal said.