KANGAR: The Kangar Municipal Council plans to include Thai alongside Malay and English on signboards in areas near the Malaysian-Thai border soon.
Municipal Council president Affendi Rajini Kanth said the initiative received the attention of Regent of Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail during a recent meeting in Padang Besar.
"Tuanku highlighted the need for signs in the border areas to include Thai.
"We will add Thai to signs and billboards, like the 'Welcome' signs managed by us, as areas like Padang Besar and Wang Kelian are entry points for our neighbouring country's citizens," he said in an interview at his office here.
He said no official date for the plan's implementation had been set, but it was discussed in a meeting yesterday.
"In the coming months, we will review the process and we expect the use of Thai to be implemented within two months from now.
"This plan will involve collaboration with various agencies and is still in discussion."
Affendi also touched on the implementation of Jawi characters on advertisement signs and business premises, which was already enforced by the state government.
"We will provide a grace period for new business owners to include Jawi on their signs.
"We plan to enforce this to ensure all signs and billboards in Perlis have Jawi, though some details need to be finalised."
Affendi added that the implementation would be done in stages, with new business owners required to include Jawi on their signs, while existing business owners would need to update their signs to include Jawi.
On Feb 1, the Perlis government mandated the use of Jawi on all business premises, advertisements and billboards in the state.
State Housing, Local Government, Human Resource Development and Poverty Eradication Committee chairman Asrul Aimran Abd Jalil said the enforcement would also cover street signs in residential areas and neighbourhoods.
This requirement covers new applications for business premises wanting to put up new signs, without affecting existing advertisement signs.