KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: The international media has picked up on the controversy over the renaming of Jalan Alor to Jalan Kejora.

In Singapore's The Straits Times online, the news made it into the Top Ten most popular read stories yesterday.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall's decision to rename the road also appeared in online versions of foreign agencies such as AFP and France24.

Popular search engines such as MSN, Yahoo and Google posted the story on their news sites as well, so did information portals such as AsiaOne.

The decision has drawn flak from almost everybody, including traders, tourists and residents.

The issue is still being actively discussed at various online forums and the general consensus is - why fix something that is not broken?

In his blog, Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong said that certain things, such as changing the name of a well-known street, just did not need doing.

"Many people are not happy with the change and they are speaking up against it," he said.

On the Malaysian Bar website, reader Tan Peek Guat asked what benefit would City Hall gain by antagonising the people?

The complaints had reached Federal Territories Minister Datuk Zulhasnan Rafique.

He said that he understood the sentiments of the people as Jalan Alor was an international landmark and promised to listen to all sides.

He said he had asked Datuk Bandar Ab Hakim Borhan for a report and a decision on the name would be made soon.