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By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, June 24: Sarawak’s upcoming airline will begin its international routes with neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, and Indonesia before expanding to other countries.
Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Sarawak Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the Sarawak government is currently setting up its own airline to further expand its economy in terms of business trade and tourism.
“As it grows, it will be bigger, and we hope one day, it will go very far (to other countries) such as Europe, Australia, Japan, and Korea.
“But in the meantime, it will start within Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia,” he said in response to an Australian journalist’s question at a press conference in conjunction with Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) at Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) here today.
Abdul Karim, who is also Minister of Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development Sarawak, further shared that during his recent trip to Jakarta, he had the opportunity to discuss collaboration for air connectivity with an Indonesian airline which is a subsidiary of Garuda International Airlines.
“We had our discussion with the airline, hoping that they would also be making connectivity to Sarawak. We will be doing this as much as possible, not just with Indonesia but with other airlines, those from Vietnam and Thailand (Southeast Asia).
“We do know that for us (Sarawak) to grow, connectivity is very important, but I have to admit that the way airlines are being managed in Malaysia—the regulatory, sometimes they are not positive for the State. They have this protectionist policy of ensuring all airlines must stop in Kuala Lumpur before they come to Sarawak.
“But then we are trying to change their mindset. Those are the little things that we must undo,” he added.
Amongst those present were Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew; Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts (MTCP) permanent secretary Datu Sherrina Hussaini; Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chairman Dennis Ngau and STB chief executive officer Sharzede Salleh Askor. — DayakDaily
