Liew says keen to work with Jeffrey
Published on: Wednesday, March 11, 2020
By: Neil Chan
Goh and FCAS members handing over the mock cheque to Liang and witnessed by Liew yesterday.
Kota Kinabalu: The State Tourism Culture and Environment Ministry is keen to work with the Federal Government, particularly the Federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry.“We are always keen to work with the Federal Government because we believe only if we work together we can move forward,” said State Tourism Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew while also extending her congratulations to Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri as the new Federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister and Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan as the Deputy Minister.
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“Irrespective of whether you are in the Federal or State, there are a lot of things for us to do, especially during these difficult times with the Covic-19 virus still going around (worldwide).
“We also have to worry about monitoring the virus and whether it will affect the State or not and how is it in the world so that when we are planning our tourism promotions to other countries, we want to know whether we can go there to do promotions.
“So there are many things for the Tourism Ministry to do such as formulating packages to assist tourism players to promote Sabah as the preferred tourism destination.
Liew said she was also keen to work closely with fellow Sabahan minister Jeffrey.
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“If Jeffrey said he is looking forward to working with me, then likewise, I am also looking forward to working closely with him.
“Being from Sabah, there are a lot of things in common we can work together. It is my hope that the joint efforts between the Federal and the State tourism efforts will be able to help both sides,” she said.
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On whether the existing Tourism Tax will be removed, Liew said she needs to sit down with her federal counterparts first.
“The last time I requested for this at a public function on five types of tourism taxes and the authority be returned to Sabah, I have not heard any positive answer yet, so this is one of the things I will raise with Jeffrey. We will (need to) sit down and discuss.”
She said this during the presentation of RM2 million raised during the “We Care, We Love” charity dinner for Wuhan by the State Government and the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah to Chinese Consul General Liang Caide at her office at Wisma Tun Fuad Stephens, Tuesday.
When asked to comment whether Ranau MP Jonathan Yassin’s is still with PKR, Liew said the Sabah PKR disciplinary committee will call for a meeting soon and Jonathan will have to make himself clear if he was still in or out of PKR.
“If he is out, then what party is he joining? If he is still a PKR member then he has a lot of things to answer. He won’t be the only one. There will be several other PKR members who the disciplinary committee will be calling for a meeting. We have to make things clear.”
When asked about Jonathan being named Deputy Minister of Home Affairs in the new Perikatan Nasional Government, Liew said such a position would mean he would be able to help Sabah get rid of the illegal immigrants.
“He is now in the government sitting in a position where he can have access to policy making. So we hope that he will do great service to Sabah by studying the State’s immigration laws.
“I respect the Deputy Home Minister’s position. Whoever sits there will have access to all those laws that may be unfavourable to the Sabah and they are able to do something about. As for him personally, I will leave it to the PKR disciplinary committee to decide next week.”
Meanwhile Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Satta) President Datuk Seri Winston Liaw said the Federal Government should focus on the nation economy in order to enhance the citizen wellbeing.
He said that no matter which party being the government, Sabah should not be left behind regardless whether the State is in opposition or not.
“As I was in Christina’s office together with the FCAS team led by Tan Sri TC Goh and Liang Caide, I invited Goh and the nine co-organisers of the Wuhan Charity, representatives from the China consulate and the Tourism Ministry to visit Zhangjiajie Wunan province in May or June.
“This is to show that not only we are the first joint government-private community who contribute to China but we also wish to visit China after the virus is contained.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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