TOURISM PRODUCTS ARE DETERIORATING

You cannot swim in the sea off Port Dickson, Penang, Cherating and Malacca, and corals are dying off Tioman Island, Redang Island and Paya Island off Langkawi, said Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, former Managing Director of Malaysia Airlines.

Pollution is a big problem. We also have to limit the number of visitors to fragile areas. We cannot have a thousand visitors visiting Paya Island in Langkawi when the carrying capacity is only, say, 300 visitors a day. Thus, the pollution will kill the corals and reduce the fish population there, he added.

There is also lack of enforcement and maintenance in these areas. Sewage, grey water, household and restaurant waste are being discharged into drains polluting the water. Most of our rivers are getting more and more polluted due to no laws to reduce and control household discharge into drains and rivers.

Two beautiful nature sites — Lake Chini and Taman Negara — have been spoilt by over-development. Lake Chini was damaged by building a dam to raise the water level to make it easier for boats to access and by killing most of the trees surrounding the lake and until today, the place has not recovered and no one takes responsibility.

Taman Negara gives a bad taste to visitors as floating restaurants discharge their waste straight into the pristine river and illegal hotels and guest houses discharge poorly-treated sewage into the river. There is no proper control of development and pollution.

Tourists do have a bad image of Malaysia when more and more cases of snatch thefts are happening in places like Penang, Johor Baru, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. Even poorer countries like Myanmar and Cambodia do not have such problems.

As is widely known, he said that the tourism industry is the second-largest foreign exchange earner to the country. So, the stakeholders have to continue to strive hard to ensure that the industry remains sustainable.

• TAN Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman is currently a practicing advocate and solicitor. He was previously the Managing Director of Malaysia Airlines for 20 years. Prior to this, he was the judicial and legal officer in the government for 10 years.