Lau (seated, third left), Ting (seated, fifth left) and members of the association pose for the camera during the courtesy call.
SIBU (May 4): A new road under the Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) jurisdiction would be named after the late Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew upon the completion of the works, said SMC chairman Clarence Ting.
He, however, did not disclose the location of the new road as well as the current status of its construction.
“We will announce it at the most appropriate time when the road is ready,” told reporters after receiving a courtesy call from the Sarawak Lau Pang Cheng’s Association, led by its permanent honorary president Temenggong Dato Vincent Lau, yesterday.
During the meeting, the association inquired on the progress of its application for a road to be named after the late Datuk Robert Lau.
In September 2020, the association wrote a letter to SMC to ask for Jalan Pahlawan to be renamed after Datuk Robert Lau to honour his contributions in developing Sibu during his tenure as SMC chairman.
On April 11 last year, Ting said the council received a letter from the Town Planning Unit of the Ministry of the Local Government approving the application, saying that the decision to rename Jalan Pahlawan to Jalan Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew had been put on hold due to criticism from the netizens and social media feedback, which regarded the move as inappropriate as many home and office addresses and other logistics would be affected.
“The situation has been put on hold for 14 months and we have to come up with a solution,” said Ting.
As such, He had called upon the association to resubmit an application to propose an alternative road to be named after Datuk Robert Lau.
“Once we receive the letter (from the Town Planning Unit), we will bring up the matter during the council monthly meeting, and we will then pick an alternative new road to be named after Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew.”
Vincent, meanwhile, expressed gratitude to Ting for making efforts to help look into this matter.
“Hopefully, when a new road is completed in the next one or two years, SMC will give priority to name it after Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew.”
