Sarawak Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah says the state government is considering tourism as part of its agenda in the ongoing discussion with the federal government on the devolution of state rights.
“When the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) was signed, tourism was not listed under the Federal Constitution,” the Borneo Post Online reported Karim as saying.
“It was in 1985 that we finally set up our own tourism ministry, whereas the federal government only set up theirs in 1994,” he told reporters after officiating at the Pre-Asia Pacific Orchid Conference in Kuching yesterday.
Karim said the state government was not only discussing tourism, but many other issues as well, where its rights had been eroded.
He said the state’s legal team in London was going through the archived documents related to MA63.
“There are minutes of meetings prior to the agreement that was discussed by our past leaders and we need to study them,” he said.
“We will work together with our counterparts in Sabah who were our equal partners in forming Malaysia.”
Karim said the state government was committed to the devolution of state rights which included tourism.
On another matter, Karim said the state was working hard to bring in direct flights to Kuching from China, Hong Kong and Thailand.
He said the state would have direct flights to Shenzen by the end of this year.
“We are working on reinstating Hong Kong, and have one of the destinations in Thailand as an additional route to Kuching soon,” he said.
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