Penang’s caretaker government’s committee chairman for Tourism and Creative Economy, Mr Yeoh Soon Hin strongly supports the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing in the recent KLIA incident.
“The respective governmental agencies must take these revelations seriously and investigate whether there is a violation of the professional code of ethics at the main gateway of Malaysia.
“Other politicians should not divert attention from the officials who are responsible for violating the rules and regulations which damages the reputation of Malaysia’s tourism due to the interest of political benefits.
“The reputation of our nation should be one of our utmost priorities. And we should not distract ourselves to other matters but instead, we must look into the potential stains within our Immigration Department and stop dragging Malaysia’s global reputation through the mud,” said Yeoh in a press statement today.
He added that after three years of unprecedented pandemic, the tourism industry is now picking up momentum for recovery. If this violation of rules and regulations at the airport revealed by the minister is true, it will cynically trample our country’s reputation and efforts to revive the tourism sector.
“After practical and drastic action taken by the minister, Dato’ Seri Tiong King Sing pointed out the need to address the major concern at the immigration arrival hall of KLIA. After the incident was highlighted, there are many tourists sharing their similar experiences at the airport on the internet. Thus, all law enforcement departments and politicians must pay close attention to it and investigate it immediately,” Yeoh stated.
Yeoh also highlighted that instead of making irrelevant remarks on the incident, or condemning the minister exceeding his authority, all parties should devote more attention to the key issue exposed by Dato’ Seri Tiong King Sing.
“Those who violate the rules and regulations will be held accountable under the law, and those who protect the reputation of the country will be respected in the eyes of the people.” he said.