Council to decide on further action against Dapsy

KUCHING: The Kuching North City Hall (DBKU) will decide what further action to take after members of the Sarawak DAP Youth wing pasted Chinese characters on three road signs in the city – a move that had drawn flak from various groups.

Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Islamic Affairs and DBKU) Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi said DBKU’s board would come up with a decision on the matter.

“We leave it to the city hall to deal with the offence, ” he said yesterday.

The DBKU had earlier demanded a public apology from Sarawak Dapsy for sticking Chinese characters on the road signs for Jalan Main Bazaar, Lebuh Wayang and Jalan Green Hill last Thursday.

The local authority, which lodged a police report on the matter last Friday, also directed the group to remove the stickers immediately as the act was done without DBKU’s approval and contravened the Local Authorities Ordinance and Local Authorities (Cleanliness) By-Laws.

The Dapsy members led by former Stampin MP Julian Tan had put up the Chinese characters on the road signs on the grounds that multilingual signs were important to reflect Sarawak’s multicultural values, as well as to cater for tourists visiting places of interest in the city.

They later removed the Chinese characters after DBKU issued the order.

On Monday, Tan and Kuching Dapsy chief Ting Ying Ying submitted a request to DBKU to “restore” the bilingual road signs.

“We were also there to accept whatever compound notice DBKU will issue in respect of the alleged vandalism.

“Now that a formal request is in place, we look forward to DBKU’s decision on the matter, ” Tan added.

Their earlier action had drawn criticism from various parties, including from PBB Youth deputy chief Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman who described it as vandalism.

“DAP’s action in putting up Chinese characters on road signs without permission from the local authority goes against the Federal Constitution and National Language Act, which stipulate that the national language must be used in all official government affairs including road signs, ” he said.

SUPP women’s chief Kho Teck Wan said it was “improper” for Dapsy to put up the Chinese characters without consent from the local authority while Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said Dapsy had violated local laws and shown the wrong example by taking the law into their own hands.