I refer to the letter Why is Georgetown called Georgetown?

This letter on why Pitt Street in Georgetown got its name has highlighted an ugly aspect of Umno’s politics, ie, changing names of popular roads without scant regard for the feelings of the residents.

In the process, this had destroyed the heritage of urban areas like Georgetown, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban and Malacca which had been reflected in the original names of the roads.

And no doubt the inability of Gerakan and MCA in Penang and the PPP in Ipoh to stand up to Umno’s ‘bullying’ had facilitated the moves of misguided Malay bureaucrats to cause several popular thoroughfares in Georgetown, Ipoh and KL to irretrievably lose something which many of their residents came to cherish.

That happened way back in the 1970s and 1980s when misguided nationalism was at its height and ruthlessly exploited by Umno to taint Georgetown’s cosmopolitan heritage comprising the vestiges of colonialism.

Pitt Street, Northam Road, Green Lane and Yahudi Road in Georgetown were given names which did not reflect their character at all. The only plausible reason for the names we could see was that Umno leaders wanted to erase Penang’s historical status as a former Straits Settlements, and if possible let it revert to being a part of Kedah.

This move had already been initiated subtly when Mitchell Pier in Butterworth was rebuilt shortly after 1957 but with its name changed to Pengkalan Sultan Abdul Halim.

Ashby Road in Ipoh was, in fact, named after a prominent local Eurasian resident of Ipoh but Umno politicians made him out to be a British colonialist whose name should be erased altogether when they renamed the street several years ago.

The same thing with Ipoh’s popular thoroughfares such as Hugh Low Street, Cowan Street, Anderson Road, Brewster Road and others whose ‘new names’, in fact, killed off their heritage and character.

Popular thoroughfares like Mountbatten Road, Swettenham Road, Shaw Road, Birch Road and Foch Avenue in KL similarly lost their identity years ago when they were given ‘nationalistic’ names.

I am not suggesting that we take away all the Malaysian names in popular thoroughfares in Georgetown, Ipoh or KL and replace them with their original ‘colonial’ names.

But many of us would remember not too long ago that even a suggestion by Kee Phaik Cheen, then Gerakan exco member in the Penang state government, to let Pitt Street be called Street of Harmony was vehemently opposed by Penang Umno which insisted on this famous street being named Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Kling, deliberately omitting the fact that the St George’s Anglican Cathedral, the Kuan Yin Temple and the Sri Mariamman Temple were also located there. The feelings of many Georgetown residents were trampled upon.

I think many people would agree with me if we can have the original names of the famous thoroughfares in Georgetown, Ipoh and KL placed beside their present names in enlarged road signs so as to restore their historical ambience and heritage. It would also be a big boon for tourists visiting these places to know something of their history.

Lest I be accused of being an ardent lapdog of British colonialism in wanting the original names of the streets mentioned above restored, let me reiterate from the very outset that I am very much a Malaysian at heart, but subscribing to the multi-racial character of this beautiful country which was robbed from us following the infamous May 13, 1969 incident.

We will not become any less Malaysian nor do we need not lose our history as a former British colony which has given all races a cosmopolitan outlook and united us as Malayans/Malaysians via the now defunct English medium schools.