Why keep silent over road sign?

THERE has been so much hullabaloo regarding the usage of the word "keling". Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has clarified that it wasn't used in a derogatory manner.
Mahathir uttered the word only once a few days ago, and some politicians are up in arms against him. But his critics seem dumbstruck when the word stares at them every day for so many years in Penang. How come they seem to have accepted this word calmly and have tolerated this word staring at them daily without a whimper.
I am referring to the road formerly named Pitt Street. Captain Francis Light was reported to have given the name to this street.
That road was renamed in the early 1990s as Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.
How come no one seems to be upset? Isn't the word "keling" prominently displayed on the road sign? It is a permanent feature in Penang. Yet why didn't the critics get upset? Why were no police reports made?
Even the famous mosque along this road was named Masjid Kapitan Keling. Previously this mosque, as I recall, was known as Masjid India.
Would these visibly upset champions of the Indians now campaign for the removable of these names for the road and the mosque?
Let them prove their sincerity and consistency. Are they genuinely aggrieved or are they trying to gain some political mileage?
P. Ramakrishnan
Aliran Member