©The
Star (Used by permission)
by Baradan Kuppusamy
• Road name change seen as arrogance
LOCAL history would suffer if Jalan Silibin in Ipoh is named after the late DAP
stalwart P. Patto.
And furthermore, he would be the first person, according to comments on blogs,
to oppose such a move.
The comment was made in the blog of Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran (http://kula.blogsome.com),
the man who is pushing to honour his dear friend and late political mentor.
Some Silibin residents and others in Ipoh and outside and even from abroad have
expressed their reservations that the name be erased if the road is named Jalan
P. Patto.
The business people are especially unhappy at the cost of changing their
identity card addresses, name cards, business sign boards and possible lost of a
brand value.
Others are local residents and history buffs who are unhappy at what they say is
a landmark name disappearing from the map.
Some are concerned their childhood memory of living in Silibin is under threat.
In comments on their blogs they reminisce about the time they had nasi kandar by
the Silibin rail tracks and the time they spend at the 103 year–old Church of
Our Lady of Lourdes on Jalan Silibin.
Silibin is also part of the tourist lore of Ipoh just like Jalan Alor is in
Bukit Bintang, said another resident, referring to the controversy the Jalan
Alor name change had caused last month.
Besides there is a Silibin Industrial Park, temples, stalls, housing in the area
that uses the word Silibin, whose origins are shrouded in mystery.
In short it is a brand, a trademark and part of local lore and memory of local
people.
The critics have nothing against Patto. In fact, many are long–time admirers of
Patto and want him honoured and remembered but not by renaming Jalan Silibin
after him.
They are worried that a part of themselves will be lost, especially their
childhood memories, if the name Silibin is erased.
“I am afraid Jalan Silibin has too much of history and changing the name will
obliterate that history. Patto must be honoured but then by renaming Jalan
Silibin it would in no way compensate the loss of history,” said another
commentator, R.V. David, in the blog.
He suggested naming a newly–constructed road after Patto, who died of a heart
attack in 1995, to avoid “erasure” of local history.
“This is what the BN did during the last five decades. We will honour Patto more
by building a new road or a new park, a new bridge and name it after him,” said
another commentator, Lee Onn Hean.
“Mr Kula, do what is right and good. Do not emulate BN,” Lee added.
Another commentator, Josh, said Patto was his hero.
“I am sure he (Patto) would not approve his name replacing an icon such as Jalan
Silibin,” Josh said, adding tongue–in–cheek that Patto would not be unhappy even
if a pub is named after him.
Kulasegaran has said the cost incurred by business is “minor” and that a survey
he and a colleague conducted confirmed that “the majority” of people did not
mind the change of name.
The survey would have been more credible if done by independent parties and
covered a wider audience.
State exco member A. Sivanesan has also jumped the gun before a proper survey
was done by announcing the decision to change the name.
Here again we see the use of “the majority” – a powerful word in a democracy –
to justify a political act that has not been well thought out.
The late Patto was a great humanist who fought hard for Malaysians and without
regard for himself, his family and his own health.
He should be honoured and in the great humanistic traditions not by renaming a
well known road but by naming a new school or a library after him.
The state government can even commission a specially–designed memorial or statue
or a park in his honour. It can create a scholarship under his name.
The Pakatan Rakyat rules the state and has powers to do it.
The new headquarters of the DAP now taking shape in Petaling Jaya can be named
Wisma Patto.
In this way, we add to the richness of local memory and history and not subtract
from them.
Road name change seen as arrogance
by Hah Foong Lian
IPOH: The late DAP stalwart P. Patto deserves to be honoured
by having a road named after him but subjecting his name to public discussion
and possible ridicule should be avoided at all cost, said a community leader.
Placing a monument at the roundabout at Jalan Silibin would be more meaningful
than renaming the road which has now become a controversy, said dentist Dr S.
Sivanesan.
He said that any attempt to bulldoze the proposal through would smack of
political exhibitionism and arrogance.
Dr Sivanesan, who is representing 37 businessmen protesting against the move to
change the name of Jalan Silibin to Jalan P. Patto, said: “The name Jalan
Silibin brings fond memories to many who are living and have set up their
businesses here.”
He said Jalan Silibin got its name since it lead to the Silibin area, which was
one of the three early Indian urban settlements in the city.
Dr Sivanesan, 55, said he spent a lot of time in the area when he was growing up
in Ipoh.
“When I first started my practice, I had always wanted to begin it in Silibin
and that was what I did,” said Dr Sivanesan, who has had a clinic on Jalan
Silibin for almost three decades.
“People relate to it and the mere mention of the name Silibin gives a sense of
nostalgia,” he said yesterday.
He added that Silibin was synonymous with the beginnings of Ipoh.
“It is not right to just change the name.”
Questioning the move to change the road name, Dr Sivanesan asked: “How can it
benefit the people and businesses there?”
On the statement by Ipoh Barat MP and Ipoh city councillor M. Kulasegaran that
70% of the people had agreed with the proposal, Dr Sivanesan said: “The Govern–
ment must also sit up and listen to the 37 businesses that had signed and
stamped their names in protest against the move.”
He added that he was in discussion with state executive councillor A. Sivanesan
and hoped for a positive outcome from it.