This is a very happy new year for me. Even though I am not a Chinese, I have received an 'ANG POW' in the way of a response from (MTPB) Malaysian Tourism & Promotion Board. Their invitation for me to visit their office is something that I have been looking forward to and I am sincerely and truly honoured.
Some of you already know, I will be leaving my present job on an 'early retirement' I may be joining another company within the next couple of months. With this new company, although on an advisory capacity, Insya Allah, I would like to play my part in promoting Malaysia, not only to the foreigners but also to Malaysians.
Malaysia is a very beautiful country but how many of us have travelled its length and breadth to how fantastic this country is?
My first plan was to drive around the country and maybe write about Malaysia in my blog but then again, how many people read my blog?
Then, I was thinking of just writing and submitting my so called report to MTPB on how to promote Malaysia through the eyes of someone from the industry, a retired one at that. (Even if MTPM does not accept my recommendation, I will atleast know that I have done my part in doing something for Malaysia) - Nawaitu yang penting
To the person from MTPB who commented in this blog and sent me the personal invitation, I am truly honoured and willing to accept your invitation but would really appreciate more details on whom I should meet or call.
Before I started this blog, I was of the opinion that it will be just for fun and friends. Now I realise there are others that are reading it too.
I hope that this year of the Ox will make our country stronger and weather this economic uncertainty.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Response from Tourism Malaysia
This is ther letter printed in the Star today in response to mine that was published a few days ago.
They may use WTO's figure and definition of tourists but do they take into account of the number of Singaporeans that live in JB but work in Singapore?
Let us take a very conservative figure of 20 thousand Singaporeans that does it 200 days in a year. The figure will already be 4 million. This does not include their family members from Singapore that come over to Malaysia to visit them but stay in their Malaysian house. There is always a reason to inflate figures. This is to show that the industry is booming when it actually is not. Ask any travel agent or Hotelier or even restauranteur for that matter.
The Tourism Ministry officials should be going to the ground to find out. They should not just sit in their enormous offices and collect figures.
Friday January 23, 2009
No reason to inflate tourism figures
IN response to “Minister has given an inflated figure” (The Star, Jan 15), I would like to confirm that based on the official, audited figures released by the Treasury, tourist arrivals generated a revenue of RM46.1bil in 2007.
The revenue is expected to be higher in 2008, based on the 5.1% increase in tourist arrivals from 20.97 million to 22.05 million.
I would like to further explain that the figures announced were based on the World Tourism Organisation’s definition of “tourists”, which describes them as “foreigners travelling to Malaysia for reasons other than following an activity remunerated from and within Malaysia and staying at least a night but not exceeding a year”.
The numbers do not include excursionists, which are defined as “foreigners coming into the country for less than 24 hours without an overnight stay”.
The figures announced by the Tourism Minister on Jan 12, which states that Singaporeans are the largest contributors to Malaysia’s tourist arrivals, do not include excursionists. If they had been included, the figure would reach 16 million.
I would like to clearly state that there is no reason for Tourism Malaysia to inflate the figures. All calculations that were made in determining the figures were based on a formula endorsed by the World Tourism Organisation and applied by countries across the globe.
AMIRRUDIN ABU,
Acting Director-General,
Tourism Malaysia.
They may use WTO's figure and definition of tourists but do they take into account of the number of Singaporeans that live in JB but work in Singapore?
Let us take a very conservative figure of 20 thousand Singaporeans that does it 200 days in a year. The figure will already be 4 million. This does not include their family members from Singapore that come over to Malaysia to visit them but stay in their Malaysian house. There is always a reason to inflate figures. This is to show that the industry is booming when it actually is not. Ask any travel agent or Hotelier or even restauranteur for that matter.
The Tourism Ministry officials should be going to the ground to find out. They should not just sit in their enormous offices and collect figures.
Friday January 23, 2009
No reason to inflate tourism figures
IN response to “Minister has given an inflated figure” (The Star, Jan 15), I would like to confirm that based on the official, audited figures released by the Treasury, tourist arrivals generated a revenue of RM46.1bil in 2007.
The revenue is expected to be higher in 2008, based on the 5.1% increase in tourist arrivals from 20.97 million to 22.05 million.
I would like to further explain that the figures announced were based on the World Tourism Organisation’s definition of “tourists”, which describes them as “foreigners travelling to Malaysia for reasons other than following an activity remunerated from and within Malaysia and staying at least a night but not exceeding a year”.
The numbers do not include excursionists, which are defined as “foreigners coming into the country for less than 24 hours without an overnight stay”.
The figures announced by the Tourism Minister on Jan 12, which states that Singaporeans are the largest contributors to Malaysia’s tourist arrivals, do not include excursionists. If they had been included, the figure would reach 16 million.
I would like to clearly state that there is no reason for Tourism Malaysia to inflate the figures. All calculations that were made in determining the figures were based on a formula endorsed by the World Tourism Organisation and applied by countries across the globe.
AMIRRUDIN ABU,
Acting Director-General,
Tourism Malaysia.
The Star 23 January 2008
This below is the email I sent to the Star
Dear Sir,
I AGREE very much with Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye that it is good for the Cabinet to drop the idea of having the Race Relations Act. However, I feel it is right to say that after 51 years of independence, the people at the top who are our leaders MUST start to think of changing.
We should stop having UMNO (United MALAY National Organisation), MCA (Malaysian CHINESE Association), MIC (Malaysian INDIAN Congress), PAS( Partai ISLAM Se Malaysia - should have been PIS) and also many other political parties that sound communal or religious. We can have NGOs that are religion based but not political parties.
I remember during my school days, many of my friends were Chinese and Indians but now it saddens me to see the state of our racial interaction in schools and colleges.
In a few more years, those born pre Merdeka will not be around anymore. We should start from now to instill in our young, the hardship that our fathers went through to gain independence for all of us. Let not the distrust among our races be the downfall of what they have built.
To the leaders, I say, 'Please do something and do it fast'.
Thank you
Pseudonym: Malaysia Truly Malaysian
Friday January 23, 2009
This is the letter that has been printed.... some censorship but hope I got the message through...
Don’t waste efforts of our forefathers
I AGREE very much with Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye that it is good for the Cabinet to drop the idea of having the Race Relations Act (“Race Relations Act not the answer for unity” – The Star, Jan 22).
However, I feel it is right to say that after 51 years of independence, the people at the top who are our leaders must start to think of change.
We should stop having political parties that sound communal or religious. We can have NGOs that are religion-based, but not political parties.
I remember during my school days, many of my friends were Chinese and Indians, but now it saddens me to see the state of our racial interaction in schools and colleges.
In a few more years, those born pre-Merdeka will not be around any more. We should start from now to instil in our young the hardship that our fathers went through to gain independence for all of us.
Let not the distrust among our races be the downfall of what they have built.
To the leaders, I say, please do something and do it fast.
MALAYSIA TRULY MALAYSIAN, Kuala Lumpur.
Dear Sir,
I AGREE very much with Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye that it is good for the Cabinet to drop the idea of having the Race Relations Act. However, I feel it is right to say that after 51 years of independence, the people at the top who are our leaders MUST start to think of changing.
We should stop having UMNO (United MALAY National Organisation), MCA (Malaysian CHINESE Association), MIC (Malaysian INDIAN Congress), PAS( Partai ISLAM Se Malaysia - should have been PIS) and also many other political parties that sound communal or religious. We can have NGOs that are religion based but not political parties.
I remember during my school days, many of my friends were Chinese and Indians but now it saddens me to see the state of our racial interaction in schools and colleges.
In a few more years, those born pre Merdeka will not be around anymore. We should start from now to instill in our young, the hardship that our fathers went through to gain independence for all of us. Let not the distrust among our races be the downfall of what they have built.
To the leaders, I say, 'Please do something and do it fast'.
Thank you
Pseudonym: Malaysia Truly Malaysian
Friday January 23, 2009
This is the letter that has been printed.... some censorship but hope I got the message through...
Don’t waste efforts of our forefathers
I AGREE very much with Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye that it is good for the Cabinet to drop the idea of having the Race Relations Act (“Race Relations Act not the answer for unity” – The Star, Jan 22).
However, I feel it is right to say that after 51 years of independence, the people at the top who are our leaders must start to think of change.
We should stop having political parties that sound communal or religious. We can have NGOs that are religion-based, but not political parties.
I remember during my school days, many of my friends were Chinese and Indians, but now it saddens me to see the state of our racial interaction in schools and colleges.
In a few more years, those born pre-Merdeka will not be around any more. We should start from now to instil in our young the hardship that our fathers went through to gain independence for all of us.
Let not the distrust among our races be the downfall of what they have built.
To the leaders, I say, please do something and do it fast.
MALAYSIA TRULY MALAYSIAN, Kuala Lumpur.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Our Tourism Minister doing a David Copperfield
I am someone that is very critical with figures especially when it s being inflated to an unbelievable extent.
On 12th January 2009, the Star newspaper quoted our Tourism Minister saying:
"Singapore contributed the largest number of visitors to Malaysia, with 11 million arrivals last year followed by Indonesia (2.428 million), Thailand (1.493 million) and Brunei (1.172 million)."
However, today, 19th January 2009 it quoted her saying:
"A total of RM21.96bil in tourism receipts were recorded from more than 16 million visitors from Singapore last year, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said."
Although I doubt both figures truly reflects these people as tourists, how can the figure of 11 million visitors from Singapore changed to 16 million visitors in a matter of 1 week?
Is she talking about the same Singapore?
Can it be that the Minister has been misquoted by the journalists covering these events?
Are these figures being inflated so that the Tourism Ministry is able to obtain more fund for their marketing activities or to show Malaysians that the tourism industry is in a very healthy state?
Even if we want to inflated these figures further, "tunggu la dulu sampai pembaca dah lupa statement yang mula tuuuuuu......."
(There is an old saying - "When you lie, you tend to forget what you said earlier")
Some of these politicians think that we Malaysians are so gullible or stupid??????
Well, maybe we are..... Maybe that is why Barisan lost most of its seats in the election........ because Malaysians are so stupid that we mark our crosses at the wrong places.
On 12th January 2009, the Star newspaper quoted our Tourism Minister saying:
"Singapore contributed the largest number of visitors to Malaysia, with 11 million arrivals last year followed by Indonesia (2.428 million), Thailand (1.493 million) and Brunei (1.172 million)."
However, today, 19th January 2009 it quoted her saying:
"A total of RM21.96bil in tourism receipts were recorded from more than 16 million visitors from Singapore last year, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said."
Although I doubt both figures truly reflects these people as tourists, how can the figure of 11 million visitors from Singapore changed to 16 million visitors in a matter of 1 week?
Is she talking about the same Singapore?
Can it be that the Minister has been misquoted by the journalists covering these events?
Are these figures being inflated so that the Tourism Ministry is able to obtain more fund for their marketing activities or to show Malaysians that the tourism industry is in a very healthy state?
Even if we want to inflated these figures further, "tunggu la dulu sampai pembaca dah lupa statement yang mula tuuuuuu......."
(There is an old saying - "When you lie, you tend to forget what you said earlier")
Some of these politicians think that we Malaysians are so gullible or stupid??????
Well, maybe we are..... Maybe that is why Barisan lost most of its seats in the election........ because Malaysians are so stupid that we mark our crosses at the wrong places.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Malaysia had 22million Tourists in 2008
Below is the statement of the Honorable Minister of Tourism Malaysia in the Star, Monday January 12, 2009
More tourist arrivals, says Azalina
By FLORENCE A.SAMY
"HANOI: Tourist arrivals in Malaysia increased by 5.1% to over 22 million last year, compared with the 20.9 million in 2007.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Asean Tourism Forum here, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said despite the current global economic challenges, the tourism industry still managed to grow due to intensified promotional efforts.
»The Cabinet Committee for Tourism had set a 20 million tourist target for this year.
Tourist arrivals last month also reached a record high of 2.058 million, a 9.2% increase from December 2007.
Long-haul tourists showed the highest increase in arrivals, with Canada registering a 65.6% increase, followed by the Netherlands (63.3%), Russia (56%), France (44.4%), Norway (43.9%) and Germany (41.9%).
In the short and medium-haul markets, there was a 132% jump in the number of Iranian tourists, followed by Cambodians (52.9% increase), Indonesians (34.6%) and Indians (30.4%).
Singapore contributed the largest number of visitors to Malaysia, with 11 million arrivals last year followed by Indonesia (2.428 million), Thailand (1.493 million) and Brunei (1.172 million).
Azalina said the Cabinet Committee for Tourism had set a 20 million tourist target for this year and was banking on arrivals from Asean countries.
She said RM50mil would be allocated for the Asean market this year compared to RM30mil last year and more roadshows would be held in China and the Middle-East.
She said the focus this year would be on unknown markets and cities instead of capital cities. At the forum, Asean members signed a mutual recognition agreement to enable mobility of tourism professionals across the region.
The agreement enables member countries to exchange information on best practices in competency-based education and training of tourism professionals while providing capacity building opportunities across the region".
If you read it carefully, you will realise that Malaysia has the most 'tourist' arrivals compared to all other its other ASEAN counterparts.
SYABAS - Malaysia Boleh!!!!!!
Now, read it again............
Let us analyse it and take the Singapore arrivals as an example.
With less than 3 million people, Singapore can have 11 million tourist arrivals into Malaysia???? That will mean that every Singaporean will have to come over to Malaysia almost 4 times a year.
Maybe these figures include those Singaporeans that come over to Malaysia or rather JB to do their weekly or monthly groceries or Singaporeans that live in Malaysia but commute dailiy to Singapore to work. (They should not be taken as tourists because they are NOT)
Now, if those figures were taken into account for Singapore, the Ministry must have taken the same type of statistics for Indonesia (Workers & Maids), Thailand (daily commuters)
If we were to add up all the 'tourist' arrivals from ASEAN countries, it will come up to slightly more than 16 million. We are therefore left with another 6 million arrivals who I can safely classify as TOURISTS although some of them may only be business travellers.
Add that to 20% of the ASEAN arrivals of 3.2 million, we come up with a more realistic figure of about 9million.
Why do I say 9 million is a more realistic figure? Indonesia, with its population of 240 million were finding it hard to hit the 9 million tourist arrivals.
We on the other hand can boldly shout that we hit more than 22 million.....
Can you imagine that if we had 22 million tourist in 2008 and on the average they spend RM2000 per visit. That's a WHOOPPING (I dont know if my calculator can take it.....) RM440,000,000,000 (is that RM440Billion????). With so many zeros, I may be wrong.................
With this sort of income, its not a wonder that the people in power are saying that Malaysia will not be hit by recession.
We must remember that when we inflate or 'play' with a figure to show what is actually not there, we create a sense false happiness and satisfaction everywhere. This will inturn create a tsunami effect to the country where people will be thinking that "We dont have to work hard anymore to promote this country as we have more than achieved our target."
When this happens, it will be a very sad day because we will be a welfare nation.
More tourist arrivals, says Azalina
By FLORENCE A.SAMY
"HANOI: Tourist arrivals in Malaysia increased by 5.1% to over 22 million last year, compared with the 20.9 million in 2007.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Asean Tourism Forum here, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said despite the current global economic challenges, the tourism industry still managed to grow due to intensified promotional efforts.
»The Cabinet Committee for Tourism had set a 20 million tourist target for this year.
Tourist arrivals last month also reached a record high of 2.058 million, a 9.2% increase from December 2007.
Long-haul tourists showed the highest increase in arrivals, with Canada registering a 65.6% increase, followed by the Netherlands (63.3%), Russia (56%), France (44.4%), Norway (43.9%) and Germany (41.9%).
In the short and medium-haul markets, there was a 132% jump in the number of Iranian tourists, followed by Cambodians (52.9% increase), Indonesians (34.6%) and Indians (30.4%).
Singapore contributed the largest number of visitors to Malaysia, with 11 million arrivals last year followed by Indonesia (2.428 million), Thailand (1.493 million) and Brunei (1.172 million).
Azalina said the Cabinet Committee for Tourism had set a 20 million tourist target for this year and was banking on arrivals from Asean countries.
She said RM50mil would be allocated for the Asean market this year compared to RM30mil last year and more roadshows would be held in China and the Middle-East.
She said the focus this year would be on unknown markets and cities instead of capital cities. At the forum, Asean members signed a mutual recognition agreement to enable mobility of tourism professionals across the region.
The agreement enables member countries to exchange information on best practices in competency-based education and training of tourism professionals while providing capacity building opportunities across the region".
If you read it carefully, you will realise that Malaysia has the most 'tourist' arrivals compared to all other its other ASEAN counterparts.
SYABAS - Malaysia Boleh!!!!!!
Now, read it again............
Let us analyse it and take the Singapore arrivals as an example.
With less than 3 million people, Singapore can have 11 million tourist arrivals into Malaysia???? That will mean that every Singaporean will have to come over to Malaysia almost 4 times a year.
Maybe these figures include those Singaporeans that come over to Malaysia or rather JB to do their weekly or monthly groceries or Singaporeans that live in Malaysia but commute dailiy to Singapore to work. (They should not be taken as tourists because they are NOT)
Now, if those figures were taken into account for Singapore, the Ministry must have taken the same type of statistics for Indonesia (Workers & Maids), Thailand (daily commuters)
If we were to add up all the 'tourist' arrivals from ASEAN countries, it will come up to slightly more than 16 million. We are therefore left with another 6 million arrivals who I can safely classify as TOURISTS although some of them may only be business travellers.
Add that to 20% of the ASEAN arrivals of 3.2 million, we come up with a more realistic figure of about 9million.
Why do I say 9 million is a more realistic figure? Indonesia, with its population of 240 million were finding it hard to hit the 9 million tourist arrivals.
We on the other hand can boldly shout that we hit more than 22 million.....
Can you imagine that if we had 22 million tourist in 2008 and on the average they spend RM2000 per visit. That's a WHOOPPING (I dont know if my calculator can take it.....) RM440,000,000,000 (is that RM440Billion????). With so many zeros, I may be wrong.................
With this sort of income, its not a wonder that the people in power are saying that Malaysia will not be hit by recession.
We must remember that when we inflate or 'play' with a figure to show what is actually not there, we create a sense false happiness and satisfaction everywhere. This will inturn create a tsunami effect to the country where people will be thinking that "We dont have to work hard anymore to promote this country as we have more than achieved our target."
When this happens, it will be a very sad day because we will be a welfare nation.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Boycotting of American/Israeli Goods?
I would love to boycott American made goods. This is to support the call from our Government to show my disgust towards the atrocities done by Israel to the Palestinians. However, looking at the above, it is only a very small part that I can play.If the Malaysian government would like the people to boycott all these and play our very small part, it should also look into playing the BIG parts like below..........
Why did MAS buy Boeing when they could have bought Airbus?
Why did we buy the F18 Hornet when we could have bought all MIGs
Whe did we buy the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) for our VIPs when we could have bought the Airbus 319?The Government should lead by example if the want this to succeed. How many cans of coca cola does it take for us to boycott to be equivalent to one F18 Hornet?
We must also remember that things like KFC, McDonalds, Coke and many more so called 'American Enterprise in Malaysia are owned by Malaysians and not by Americans. Therefore boycotting these 'American Products' as the government is encouraging us to do will only be creating hardship to the people that are workign in these company.... In Malaysia.
On the contrary, Boeing Business Jets are not made or assembled in Malaysia but in Seattle in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The fighter planes are also not made in Malaysia. This is the way to to it. Not just rousing up the population by saying boycott.
Do not say that buying all those planes and expensive assets from USA are business decisions because for me, buying a can of cose from the convenient store is also a business decision.
As for boycotting of Israel goods, Dont we know that we do not have any relations with Israel... Economic or otherwise. How can their products get into Malaysia? Unless we have a BIG loophole somewhere in our system that produce from that country can come in here maybe through a third country............... (Food for thought?)
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