KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (Padang Rengas-BN) did not hide his disdain at the government’s decision to allow developments in the city centre to carry English names.
Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat, the maverick politician noted that many recent developments in Kuala Lumpur no longer bear Malay names, which he said is unfortunate.
“Kuala Lumpur is the capital city of Malaysia. But lately, KL appears to have become like London.
“Roads in the city, new buildings, residential areas... are mostly named in English,” he said when debating Budget 2022 for the Federal Territories Ministry.
“Some places with Malay names have also been changed to English now, like Bangsar South. What’s the problem with calling it Bangsar Selatan?”
Bangsar South was renamed from Kg Kerinchi by developers in a bid to upscale the land.
Nazri said changing the names of a location from Malay to English to attract investors does not make sense as most of them decide on which properties to buy based on the location of the development.
“If you ask developers, what’s important in terms of marketing is location. People purchase properties in a certain locations perhaps because they are near the city centre.
“Sometimes, we appear to be so fixated on English names. This is difficult. We are no longer promoting the Malay language,” he said.
In this regard, Nazri urged the Federal Territories Ministry to play a more important role in defending the use of Malay names for residential areas, buildings, and roads.
“I ask the Kuala Lumpur City Centre and my friend, the minister (Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim), who comes from Perlis – please defend the use of local names,” he said. – The Vibes, December 2, 2021
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