State MCA Youth chief Lim Swee Bok said it is also unacceptable for a Kedah government official to call the monument a “tourism icon”.

“The Japanese soldiers were invaders. We should honour those who were killed by them rather than honouring the killers.

“We demand that this monument be immediately dismantled, for the atrocities by the Japanese were unacceptable at that time,” he said.

Earlier, he and 10 other party members had attempted to hand over a memorandum of protest to the Consulate-General of Japan in Penang at Menara BHL. However, they were denied entry by security officers at the building.

A security contractor with the consulate eventually accepted the memorandum and said he would hand it over to them.

The issue surfaced after the Kedah Tourism Department reportedly referred to the memorial as a monument for “fallen heroes”.

The 78-year-old cenotaph was recently restored by the Japanese Consulate-General in Penang, with the assistance of local historian groups.

A board near the monument explained in three different languages how several Japanese soldiers were injured and later died after their failed attempt to blow up the Sultan Abdul Halim memorial bridge nearby.

Kedah state executive councillor Mohd Asmirul Anwar Aris yesterday apologised on behalf of the state government for the “heroes” gaffe, saying the word “wira” on the board and surrounding banners were likely a translation error by Japanese consulate officials.