Factors that attract foreign tourists coming into our country

Recently I have shared my opinions and belief that it is the sense of security and personal safety, not language, as among the main reasons why international tourists come to Malaysia and including Sarawak. I have mentioned these to our media friends on the contributing factors which attracted tourists to come to Malaysia which is  the standard of security provided by the police and other agencies.

That is why we don't have many complaints from tourists that their safety in the country is being compromised. I have told our media friends when asked to respond to a statement by Federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing over Kuala Lumpur City Hall's (DBKL) enforcement against Chinese-language signboards which should not be made into an issue.  Foreign tourists go to countries where they feel welcome and where there are many tourism products for them to enjoy vacations and to visit places of interest.

Thirdly, they come over to our country because of food which they can easily find. Apart from these, the local communities are welcoming towards the arrivals of the tourists where the language issue is not the main concern of the tourists who want to come to any country, saying that it is not going to hinder their travelling plans. If we want to go to other countries, say the Middle East or India or China, we do not want to insist that these countries must use Bahasa Malaysia on their road signages simply because it is for these countries concerned to decide," he said.

There are in parliament of opposition members of parliament who had questioned Datuk Seri Tiong's criticism against DBKL for reportedly penalising businesses not using Bahasa Malaysia in their signboards since October this year but I feel that we need to abide by the rules of laws. If the by-laws say so, everyone living in that area must abide by them. There is no need for us to insist on the use of Tamil language to attract tourists from India, Mandarin for tourists from China, or Arabic for tourists from Middle Eastern countries. 

The use of Bahasa Malaysia in DBKL's jurisdiction should not be made an issue. There is no need to make a small issue become a major issue by alleging such actions as excessive and counterproductive. Hence, we must not create a false negative image that contradicts our reality as a multiracial, multicultural, and multi religious country.