GET RID OF CHINESE SIGNAGE IN JOHOR A SIGN OF MORE BAD FAITH TO COME FROM HARAPAN? AMID CRITICISM, JOHOR STATE GOVT BACKS OFF – BUT THE ORDER TO REMOVE CHINESE WRITING ON PILLARS WAS REAL, NOT CREATED BY POLITICAL SABOTEURS AS KIT SIANG SUGGESTED

MUAR – Traders in Jalan Sisi were relieved after the decision to remove Chinese characters on pillars of pre-war buildings here was reversed, less than 48 hours after it was made.

The notice was initially issued on Tuesday for business owners to remove the characters within two weeks.

Yeong Hoe Tong Medical Hall owner Tan Siew Teng, 65, remembered the characters being on the pillars even as a young girl.

“It would be hard for me to erase it,” she said.

Tan said she was overjoyed when Muar council president Mustaffa Kamal Shamsudin announced yesterday that the notice was rescinded.

The lettering was said to violate local advertising laws and shop owners could be fined up to RM2,000, jailed two years, or both.

State executive councillor Tan Hong Pin in a press conference yesterday denied any racial element in the initial order, explaining that council officers were merely enforcing a rule on the size of lettering for signboards.

Chop Huap Aik Hardware outlet owner Ong Kiat Seng, 65, said the characters at her shop’s pillar have been there since 1929.

Ong said her family had been operating the business for three generations and she wanted her daughter to take over one day.

She said forcing businesses to erase the characters was unfair and would be like trying to “conceal history”.

Dental practitioner Kok Den Ming, 68, said he was puzzled over the council’s initial decision and glad to hear they could keep the wordings on the pillars.

Another trader, who declined to be named, said the council should have gotten feedback from locals before making any decisions.

According to Bernama, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said the Chinese characters were part of the town’s beauty and should be maintained.

“I categorically oppose the forceful removal, it makes no sense.

“As the MP of Muar, I won’t allow this to happen,” he said in a statement yesterday.

– ANN