MALACCA is a World Heritage site and has much to offer foreigners and Malaysians alike. However, tourists will be laughing at the use of English on signs and notices. It is embarrasing.

A signboard below a picture depicting “Christians going to the chapel” at St John’s Hill reads: “... the Portuguese tried to disseminate Catholicism among the locals. Unfortunately only a small group of local woman were converted though massage.”

Further, reassuring the visitor that the ones converted “though massage” came from Sumatra (that is, no Malayan women were converted to the Catholic faith) is a political message that should have no relevance to the tourist.

There are more examples elsewhere. At Muzium Samudera, the fog horn is described as “Siren which is sounded when a ship come into the misty and dimly visible area at the sea as an alarm of existence of any ship which also in its vicinity”; while “Perahu Jalur” is “among the first type of boat the human use. When the knowledge about [unreadable] rock and assets caustic was start expand he start made the transport use [unreadable] out of a trunk, they will make a hole at the center to get a balance and [unreadable] it commonly measures 15 feet in length and two feet in width ... The Perahu Jalur was made from the hard and floating wood like Meranti. This [unreadable] using by people all over the world especially internal society.” The Tourism Ministry ought to take stock of how its money is being spent to sell Malacca and Malaysia. – Steve de Souza

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