Sarawak, Sabah agree to place tourism on Concurrent List: Karim
Published on: Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Abdul Karim said previously tourism was not rejected either in the State List or the Concurrent List, and if it is not placed anywhere, then it will be placed as a Residual Item, which automatically becomes an item under the State List.
KUCHING: Sarawak and Sabah have agreed to place tourism under the Concurrent List of the Federal Constitution in negotiations with the Federal Government recently.
Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, said tourism should be taken seriously by both the Federal and State governments.
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“So we have agreed that Sabah, Sarawak, in our negotiations with the Federal Government, we want it to be placed under the Concurrent List.
“However, it has not been finalised because it is still an early discussion, and it will reach that direction,” he said.
Abdul Karim said previously tourism was not rejected either in the State List or the Concurrent List, and if it is not placed anywhere, then it will be placed as a Residual Item, which automatically becomes an item under the State List.
“However, in 1992 or 1994, the Federal Government at that time secretly presented a Bill and put tourism under the Federal List, without referring to the states (of Sarawak and Sabah).
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“This is where it is ‘bulldozed’ secretly, and placed under the federal list. So, when things related to state rights were discussed at that time, we started asking back. Tourism should be a state affair as well,” he said.
By putting tourism on the Concurrent List in the Federal Constitution, Abdul Karim believed it would give Sarawak a lot of power in the tourism industry.
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He said it may include applications for the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, renewal of licenses for tour guides which are now all under the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac).
He said for any tour guide now, they need to go to West Malaysia to issue the relevant licence and study or take a course there.
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