By Bavani M

ROAD names in Kuala Lumpur are changed to make life easier for the postman when delivering letters.

This was the answer given by City Hall deputy director-general Datuk Mohd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz in response to The Star's front page story yesterday on the controversy caused by the change of Jalan Alor to Jalan Kejora.

Amin, who is also chairman of the Road Naming Committee, said that the 20-member committee had specific guidelines for renaming roads.

"Names are changed to avoid confusion for postmen, the police and DBKL staff doing their jobs."

Amin added that the move was in accordance with the Federal Government's decision to change all English names to Bahasa Malaysia.

He said Jalan Alor was changed to Jalan Kejora which is the name of a planet and that surrounding roads in the area would also be changed to the same star and planet theme, for example like Jalan Bulan.

Many city folk including the MP for Bukit Bintang Fong Kui Lun found the move ludicrous and senseless and questioned the rationale behind it.

According to Amin, to avoid confusion, the committee's guidelines include using road names with specific themes such as vegetables, flowers, fruits and famous people and that letters and numbers are not encouraged.

Amin said that the changing of road names in Kuala Lumpur is not something new and has been going on for the past 30 years. He added that over 500 roads in KL had been renamed since 1980.

Last year Jinjang folks complained that City Hall's road naming committee changed over 80 colonial road names in the neighbourhood to Sarawak themed names. Residents were unhappy that the move would erase a large part of the city's history which is its colonial charm.

Amin said that the City Hall's road naming committee comprising several government agencies, National Archive, Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka, Pos Malaysia, members of the DBKL advisory board and NGOs are strict in following the rules and guidelines to the T.

"If one person disagrees to the move to change a particular road name then we will not go through it," Amin said, adding that all 20 members in the committee unanimously agreed to change the name of Jalan Alor to Jalan Kejora.

Amin said most of the city road names have been changed and that the City Hall has now moved to outskirt neighbourhoods such as Seri Petaling and Desa Petaling.

Former City Hall Advisory Board member Datuk Ooi Saw Choo, who sat on DBKL's Road Naming Committee from 2005 to 2006 said the committee goes through a lengthy process before deciding on road names and said that a process to change a road name can take as long as two months.

Ooi also said that the committee should seek feedback from the local representative or the area MP of a particular neighbourhood which is undergoing name changes as it was the right thing to do.

When contacted, Fong said that it was a ridiculous reason to change a name and that he would bring the matter up in parliament.