KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — City Hall’s (DBKL) recent enforcement over language violations on signboards was against all businesses and did not single out Chinese stores, said an advisory board member.

Despite DBKL showing photographs of enforcement that primarily involved signs in Chinese, Lai Chen Heng said action was also taken against Bangladeshi, Korean, and Arabic outlets that did not adhere to DBKL’s by-laws.

The by-law holds that Malay must be the dominant language in signboard in terms of font size and placement, with other languages permitted so long as they appear secondary in both terms.

“The law is the law. And the national language is important and must be given prominence,” he was quoted as saying in a Channel News Asia (CNA) report.

CNA said it found that DBKL’s inspections have also covered businesses catering to migrants from countries such as Bangladesh.

Lai said that some businesses were fined due to breaching specifications, while others were for deviating from their approved submissions.

However, he conceded that the enforcement — which coincidentally came after former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s open complaint — should have been more consistent.

“I have no idea why (the operations are being conducted) now. The DBKL have been conducting operations on illegal structures and illegal traders, but not really on signboards.

“But this is something that had been planned months ago,” he said.

On Monday, the Malaysian Chinese Restaurant Association reportedly claimed their businesses were facing escalating operational costs due to DBKL’s strict enforcement regarding signboards.

DBKL responded by saying it was merely enforcing laws as set in the Advertisement (Federal Territories) By-Laws, the Local Government Act, and the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Act.

Last month, Dr Mahathir complained that Chinese and English signboards have become commonplace in the city, with some containing little to no Malay.

He said English was understandable as it was the lingua franca, but he questioned the prominence of Hanzi.

Dr Mahathir claimed to have heard that the local display of Hanzi for signs is so ubiquitous that Chinese media referred to Malaysia as Little China.