Penang engages 10 lawyers to defend suit over road signs

The Penang government and Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) have engaged 10 lawyers to defend the suit brought by Pahang accountant Nik Rizman Sapian over multilingual road signs.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the counsel would be spearheaded by Karpal Singh. The rest are Yeoh Yang Poh, Azahar Harun, Malek Imtiaz, Harris Ibrahim, Mureli Navaratnam, Cecil Rajendra, Barnard Kok Yin Fook, Jagdeep Singh Deo and Gobind Singh.

“The team of lawyers was formed to defend the right of the state government on why it was wrong to put up the multilingual signboards in heritage sites in Georgetown,” he told reporters after a gathering made up of state executive councillors and civil servants at The Dome in Komtar here today.

“The team of lawyers will handle the case for the state government and MPPP for free and the case will be mentioned tomorrow at Georgetown High Court,” he said.

On Nov 4 last year, Nik Rizman filed an injunction at the High Court here to stop the state government and MPPP from putting up multilingual road signs. He claimed the move to put up multilingual road signs would jeopardise the position of Bahasa Malaysia as the country’s national language.