After numerous calls by members of the public, Tourism Minister Azalina Othman Said has finally relented to the idea that it is the responsibility of Tourism Malaysia after all to continue promoting tourism in Penang and Langkawi.
Although the minister has stopped short of mentioning the other four states, I am sure that this latest announcement made by her after much deliberation is wise. I am not surprised that it is a post-cabinet announcement, because the minister had earlier on kept her stand, singling out particularly the states that have fallen into the hands of Pakatan Rakyat.
Malaysians have voted for change, but Malaysia cannot afford to be a country where the losing party tries to sabotage and grind the new state governments’ machinery to a halt.
As the country’s democracy matures, the leaders have to realise that they cannot take away the rice bowl of the people. If they do that, they will eventually find that they have to bear the brunt of the people’s resentment against their unwise decisions.
I wish to highlight that agencies like Tourism Malaysia or Matrade should be apolitical, and its officials have no business in trying to divert tourists’ or investors’ attention to only certain states.
Their role as promotion boards should be to strive to study the strengths of each tourist or investment destination, and promote tourism and investments in these states, without even thinking whether it is under the Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat.
It is easy to marginalise states won by the Pakatan governments, but such an effort will only seek to kill the industry and the country’s economy as a whole. If the meeting planners choose to host their events in the Pearl of Orient, there is no reason for Tourism Malaysia to try to divert their attention to the Land under the Wind. Investors may have their reasons for picking certain states to build their plants.
By appointing a different committee or certain individuals in the five Pakatan states with whom the federal government can liaise with is a sign of immaturity on the part of our leaders. The people will see this as a redundancy of manpower and resources in a dysfunctional government at both the federal and state levels.
Will the rakyat then decide to only vote for the Barisan government? I dare you to dream this will happen when people have become hardcore with years of being marginalised.
The BN-led government under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should, on the contrary, be happy that the Pakatan state governments are now busy trying to promote tourism in their own states, instead of giving their 100 percent opposition towards the federal government.
