I refer to the Malaysiakini report Backbenchers rap Penang's multi-lingual road signs .

It's funny to see how the multi-lingual road signs in Penang have been trivialised for both political and economic reasons but no one seems to know their historical significance.

What makes the inner city of Georgetown, Penang, so special is how the road names are able to reflect the history of Georgetown. It is not like Kuala Lumpur where you have road names like Jalan 17/18 or Jalan Hang Tuah where the name of the road is not connected or irrelevant to local history.

Let's take Pitt Street in Penang as an example and see what it can tell us.

A road named after a Briton will tell you that the place was once under the British colonialists.

Pitt Street was named after William Pitt, the prime minister of Britain when Francis Light first established Georgetown in 1786.

Then we can look into why Francis Light named one of the first four streets of Georgetown after Pitt. For political reasons? Maybe the British were obsessed over naming roads after themselves? Why is Georgetown called Georgetown in the first place?

See what I mean about street names reflecting history?

Pitt Street was the formal name of this road before they changed it Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling. Once again, the change of the road name will tell you about the political history of the place.

Pitt Street has also informal or non-formal names. Unknown to many, Pitt Street has three other Chinese names and one Malay name which are:

‘Ia Kha’ (meaning: under the coconut tree)

‘Tua Balai’ (meaning: big police station)

‘Kuan Im Teng Cheng’ (meaning: in front of Kuanyin Temple) and;

‘Simpang Lelong' (meaning: Auctioneer's Junction).

Ia Kha, Tua Balai, and Simpang Lelong will tell you of the street-scape, landmarks and activity that once bustled on Pitt Street.

Although the coconut tree, police station and the lelong activities are no longer there, the history is immortalised in the street names .

It is intangible proof of the past, a testimony to the activities and the presence of the community there.

Not many Penangites will be able to tell you this because there is no heritage education and advocacy going on except efforts that has been done by ‘Anak-anak Kota’.

From the name of the road, we can also tell the different system of naming roads. If the British way of naming roads would be after their own personalities, the Chinese and Indian Muslims migrant communities would name roads after the street-scape, landmarks or activities on the road.

Therefore, putting multi-lingual signboards in the inner city is not just about translating from one language to another. It's about telling the history of the place from the name of the place itself.

Should there be more education on heritage, I'm sure people will be able to better appreciate and understand the intangible value of street names.