From V Thomas

One of the grievances of most Malaysians is that many of those who have contributed much to the wellbeing of the country have not been recognised or honoured.

This applies to people in many sectors, including sports, social service, politics, civil service, arts, and the corporate sector.

Although quite a number are honoured with titles by the rulers or governors of the states and the King, many are left out.

Recently, Thomas Samuel, the honorary secretary of the ex-state & ex-national footballers association brought up the issue of honouring Malaysian sports personalities by naming roads after them.

I agree. The Puncak Alam road, for instance, has been befittingly re-named Persiaran Mokhtar Dahari.

But we don’t have to rename existing roads. More and more roads, bridges, flyovers and buildings are being constructed nationwide so why can’t these be named after important personalities?

We can ensure that prominent Malaysians are honoured by naming roads after them in new housing, commercial and industrial estates and new townships.

Many of these new developments become prominent and popular over time and so will the road names. How fitting it will be, for instance, to have a name such as Jalan Datuk M Chandran on one of the prominent roads in a housing estate.

Residential areas with names of prominent people appear more vibrant and popular, and a good example is Taman Tun Dr Ismail in KL which has roads named after political and literary figures.

How about having all the roads in a top residential housing enclave named after all the Selangor and Malaysian footballers from the 1960s to 2000 when our soccer stars were known for their exploits in the Merdeka tournament and the Asian Cup?

We could have road names like Jalan Mokhtar Dahari, Jalan Santokh Singh, Jalan V Arumugam, Jalan Serbegeth Singh, Jalan Soh Chin Ann and others all in one housing estate! It will be a nice way to remember these players.

We should do the same for the greats in badminton, squash, athletics, the 1975 Hockey World Cup players and various other sports.

Why are we not having a Persiaran Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye or a Persiaran Tan Sri Elyas Omar after KL’s longest-serving mayor? It’s also better to give the names of people rather than numbers to roads.

Now that the former Rubber Research Institute (RRI) research centre in Sungai Buloh is being developed as the upscale Kwasa Damansara, past contributors to the rubber industry need to be remembered. Thus, roads can be named after H N Ridley, Tan Sri B C Sekhar and Tan Sri Ani Arope.

Since Merdeka, most of the roads, bridges, hospitals, mosques and other infrastructure or buildings of significance have been named after the royals, and Malaysia has to go beyond this practice.

Ordinary citizens who have excelled in their fields and accomplished extraordinary achievements need to be remembered and honoured too. They can be from any walk of life.

Names of prominent East Malaysians also need to be given to roads in the Peninsula as it will promote better East-West interaction and recognition.

We also need to name roads after more women. Why can’t there be road names like Persiaran Rafidah Aziz or Jalan Sarimah Ibrahim or Jalan Sharifah Aini or Jalan M Rajamani?

It is time federal, state and local governments re-consider how roads are named and bring about a more egalitarian and meaningful system of honouring citizens who have excelled in their fields.

For a start, local authorities need to consider naming roads after national heroes and prominent local figures at new housing, industrial and commercial centres.

V Thomas is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.