Johor gov't: No racial element to Muar signage debacle

The Johor government has denied the existence of any racial element in the Muar signage furore after shopkeepers were instructed by the local council to remove Chinese signages from shop pillars there.

In a press conference today, state executive councillor Tan Hong Pin said the Muar Municipal Council officers were bound by a 12-year-old BN-era regulation pertaining to the size of non-BM shop signages and fonts.

"The issue is supposedly that the Pakatan Harapan government was acting cruelly towards a certain race. Firstly, I hope this does not become a racial issue whereas it actually involves enforcement officers in a rush to carry out their duties, without any ill intent."

Tan, who oversees local government, science and technology, said the importance of preserving Muar's heritage elements had probably been lost in the zeal of law enforcement.

The state government would be issuing a new circular and guidelines soon for local councils pertaining to advertising signs and its enforcement, taking into account the position of the national language as well as historical and heritage factors.

Meanwhile, Muar Municipal Council president Mustaffa Kamal Shamsudin (centre in photo), who was also present at the press conference, stated that the problem stemmed from the fact many shop operators were displaying more signages than what they had applied for.

This led to the council to begin more stringent enforcement of the rule, so as to avoid any discrepancies during the audit process.

The concern was that the number of business licenses issued for shop premises would not tally with the number of signage licenses.

"The number of signage licenses should be more than those for business premises... so we tried to enforce (the rule).

"In 2006, the previous Johor exco issued a guideline that the size of fonts for non-BM signs should not exceed 3/4th of the national language (signs).

"This was followed by a change in the licensing by-laws (undang-undang kecil) in 2011 in which a Johor government circular was issued (to reflect this)," he said.

He said that the council thus began issuing notices to shops to avoided being questioned by auditors for not enforcing rules regarding payment of advertising licenses and signage font size.

This issue came to light following a news report yesterday that Muar shop owners had been instructed by local council officers to remove the signs, usually painted in Chinese letterings on pillars outside each store, as the wordings were bigger than the ones in Malay.

Chinese daily Sin Chew reported that affected shop operators, some who have been doing business there for decades, cried foul over the orders to do so.

Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman had voiced his objections towards the orders, saying that the signs were a symbol of Muar’s diversity and living history.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Johor's Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang questioned if the furore surrounding the issue was the work of "political saboteurs” to help boost MCA's chances in the Balakong state seat by-election in Selangor this Saturday.

"There is otherwise no reason for such a furore to come out of the blue with the shop owners in the Muar district who had been doing business for decades to be suddenly instructed by Muar Municipal Council officers to erase Chinese letterings on pillars outside each store, undermining inter-racial harmony and unity," the DAP veteran politician said.  - Mkini