On the debate whether road signs in Penang should be in several languages, including even Arabic, I think racial politics has to be put aside to give away to some tourism initiatives.

I refer to a statement by Tanjung Umno Youth division chief, Shaharrudin Hassan who urged the local government and government agencies to only allow road signs in the national language.

Shaharuddin had claimed that if the Malays can compromise with not having road signs in Jawi or Arabic, there is no reason why the other races cannot practise a similar thing.

My contention is that Shaharuddin should go and live somewhere else where all the signages are in the local language and see if he would feel the welcome as a tourist.

When I was living in Mozambique for almost a year, the feeling is the same. Everything was in Portuguese. The country is handicapped in many ways because of the language barrier, while the other neighbouring countries are all English speaking.

In a world that is becoming smaller everyday, language should no longer be a major barrier to communicate with the rest of the world. If the signages can be done in a tasteful manner in all languages in the world, I am sure the Penang State Government would do it.

As Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng pointed out, look at the announcements made at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It is a great achievement for Malaysia to project its image as an advanced newly industrialised nation, with a global outlook.

Let us not go backwards, Shaharuddin! (By STEPHEN NG/ MySinchew)