KUANTAN: Legal action will be taken by interest groups here against the policy of imposing Jawi script on business signage.

Seni Khat Action Team (Sekat) secretary-general Arun Dorasamy said there were grounds to challenge the legality of the Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK) imposing the policy and fining businesses for non-compliance.

"Under the Local Government Act 1976, whatever policies that are enacted must be of benefit to residents. However, in this case, how many of us can even read Jawi?

"What is the advantage of using Jawi in the municipality?

"Under the National Language Acts 1963/67, the default written Malay must also be in the Roman script provided that this shall not prohibit the use of Jawi, which means the latter should have been optional.

"There is also contradiction in this as there are now billboards in Kuantan where Jawi is given more prominence than Malay written in the Roman script," he said.

Arun said lawyers would be filing the lawsuit within the week with the objective of seeking a court declaration that the policy was null and void due to it being unreasonable.

The move, initiated by Sekat, the Jawi Teaching Special Committee and local NGOs, would also seek to quash all summonses issued under the policy.

"While we understand the state government may have an agenda to uplift the use of Jawi, it cannot abuse its power to impose such an agenda on the business community, which is costing them money.

"We are by no means anti-Jawi or anti-Islam. We just do not want this to be forced upon us.

"When there is an infringement of our rights, then there is a moral obligation for us to try to put a stop to it," he said at a public talk on the issue here Tuesday (Feb 4).

It was reported that MPK had started to issue compound notices to premises that failed to display the Jawi script on their signage.

State Local Government and Housing Committee chairman Abd Rahim Muda also reportedly said those who disobeyed the order could be fined up to RM250 and if they persisted, they might have their business licence revoked.

Arun called on those who had been fined not to pay up while the lawsuit was in progress.

"I am pretty sure the law is on our side," he said.