Malaysians choose 'Road' as Chinese character of the year

KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian people have chosen "Lu," or "Road" in English, as the Chinese character of the year in 2017, taking cue from the country's active plan in infrastructure expansion.

According to the results released on Sunday by Malaysia's Han Culture Center and the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (FCAM), "Road" garnered 28,887 votes, accounting for 30.45 percent of the total, and "Tiredness," came in second.

Pheng Yin Huah, president of FCAM, said the character "Road" perfectly summed up how the Malaysian people felt about this year.

He referred to the launch of several lines of the Mass Rapid Transit system, the beginning of the construction work for the East Coast Rail Link, a major project linking west part of the Malaysian Peninsula with east coast and the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail, which will call tender soon.

The selection of "Road" not only reflected people's better understanding of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, but also embodied people's expectation to lead a better life, said Pheng.

Other nominated characters include "Anxiety," "Taxation," "Waiting," "Election," "First," "Gold," "Chaos," and "Terror."

Malaysia is one of several Asian countries and regions to select a Chinese character each year. About 24 percent of the Malaysian people belong to the Chinese community. Though most of the votes are from them, the organizers say more and more Malay and Indian people began to participate.

Last year's annual Chinese character was "Greed".