In view of the clarification by Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal, Datuk Seri Syed Danial Syed Ahmad, that the Conference of Rulers has never made or approved any resolution to rename eight main roads in the federal capital after the country’s former Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Federal territories Minister Tengku Adnan should put on hold the road name change and seek the Conference of Rulers’ views and approval on both the proposal to make the road name change and the suitability of the roads chosen.
On November 28, Tengku Adnan has clarified that the DBKL ‘s decision to change the names of eight roads in KL effective November 26 was not made upon the request of the Conference of Rulers, but was a decision of the Federal Territories Ministry.
Two days ago, Datuk Seri Syed Danial Syed Ahmad via a statement has also verified that the matter was never discussed at any meeting of the Conference of Rulers.
“What actually happened was that a proposal paper was submitted by the Federal Territories Ministry to the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal to be tabled at the 234th Meeting of the Conference of Rulers on Feb 27, 2014.
“However, the proposal paper was then withdrawn by the ministry and was not submitted again for discussion by the Conference of Rulers,” he said in a statement.
So why did the Ministry decide to go ahead without resubmitting any proposal paper?
Tengku Adnan should realize that the road name change has created controversy and criticisms not because of any disrespect to the present and former Yang di Pertuan Agong, but rather because people are most unhappy with the sudden name change and the suitability of the roads chosen.
While some city folk have proposed that new roads be picked instead, there have also been criticisms that major roads should have been chosen.
Even Utusan Malaysia via its editorial column has said that the road names should reflect the highest form of respect to Malaysia’s royal institution. The writer Awang Selamat has said that name change should have been done to main roads and highways instead.
Tengku Adnan must therefore not try to justify the road name change with his simple reason that some of the roads have no meaning. Neither should anyone politicize the issue and associate any criticism with disrespect for the Rulers.
I do not wish to debate with Tengku Adnan on what he claimed to be road names with no meaning, suffice for me to say that even if there is a road with name that has no meaning, it does not mean that it is therefore suitable to be named after the Agong.
May be I should remind Tengku Adnan that Awang Selamat in the said Utusan Malaysia editorial column has also written the following:-
“If it’s just a street, slip road and not a main road, then it’s best not to change it to the name of the king”.