[parkan]

Be very, very careful when you're using PHP as an example of the proper way to do something, because you're probably at least partially wrong. Semicolons are optional when followed by a closing tag (and likewise, closing tags are optional when the last statement ends with a semicolon -- in this case, whitespace at the end of the file is valid, as well)

[code_duck]

Yes. There is one situation in which you may omit a semicolon in PHP.

This does not create a situation like the semicolon insertion in JavaScript, however, and I don't perceive as an ambiguity or inconsistency issue.

Are you saying this detail about PHP causes problems of some sort? I can't think of any. If JavaScript were to work like that, and only let you omit a semicolon before a closing script tag, that would be absolutely fine with me.