the sincerity of UMNO

Is UMNO all about preserving power instead of doing whats best for the people?

TheSun

"Selangor is one of the top destinations in the nation and the first stop for most international tourists. It would be foolhardy for the central government to continue sidelining Selangor as well as Penang, Perak, Kelantan and Kedah, which are all premier destinations."

Azalina had, yesterday, said all funds for tourism in the five opposition ruled states would be directly channelled into the accounts of the states' Tourism Action Councils which will no longer be chaired by the State Executive Councillors in charge of tourism.

The RM1mil annual budget for each state which used to be channelled to the state financial officers when the states were ruled by the Barisan Nasional (BN), will from now on be channelled through federal funds.

Despite being cut off by the ministry, Wong said the Selangor state government would persevere in supporting the industry.

In urging the ministry to seriously reconsider the decision, he said it would bring about a spiral-effect causing losses to the people and the whole industry in the country, including Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters.

"In the short term, it may affect Penang's tourism industry but in the long-term it will defnitely affect the Malaysia's tourism industry," said Law.

He said the Penang Tourism Action Council (PTAC) could face operational problems because it is organising and managing touirm events in the state.

"We may have to expand the Penang Development Corporation (PDC)'s tourism division to take over the organisation of tourism events here since PTAC may not help us organise events in future," he said.

The major projects lined up under the Ninth Malaysian Plan (9MP) such as the RM40 million expansion project for Penang Hill, RM7 million expansion project for the Botanic Gardens, RM5 million expansion project for Penang War Museum and a few million for the Batu Ferringhi clean-up project will still go on.