‘Today’s govt policies must benefit future generations’
KOTA KINABALU, Oct 17, 2014: A government policy, especially that concerns the environment, must not only benefit the future generation, but also get its appreciation.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun in disclosing this said the state government should therefore take into consideration the needs and importance of conservation when drafting the policy.
Responding to Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA) president Hamzah Rahmat’s call for the state government to seriously look into efforts for environmental conservation, Masidi welcomed the view.
He added it would defeat the whole purpose of promoting the country as an eco-tourism destination if half of its conservation policies were breached.
“I am not criticising what the State Government has done, this is just a mere reminder to self and also Sabahans to please consider the needs and welfare of future generations when drafting any policy.
“We need to realise that our action today will haunt us forever. We may not feel the effect for the next one or two decades, but we have to think forward and draft a policy that will serve a long-term solution that will benefit our children and their children in the next 30 or 50 years,” he said when launching the Asia Pacific Eco-Tourism Conference (Apeco) 2014, here, today.
He said there were “unpopular” policies made today, but he believed that as long as it was executed well, it would work.
“What we think is popular may not be the right decision. What we really need is the right policy and ensure it is executed well.”
He said the State Government had been working hard to ensure balance between development and nature conservation, which among others had set that 55% of Sabah be retained as protected forest.
“We are moving towards that and I believe that through education, we will be there.”
He said although logging was the largest contributor to the state’s economy, last year’s decision to revoke licenses for the industry showed the State Government’s sincerity to protect the environment. The revenue dropped from RM2 billion to RM110 million.
“This is an example of an unpopular decision, but it did bring positive impact to other industries, such as tourism which clocked RM6.3 billion in revenue, over RM4 billion more compared with what we had received from logging.”
Masidi was also optimistic that although this year was not a good year for Sabah’s tourism industry, he believed it would be able to pick up pace in time.
“Our performance shows a 10% increase in the first five months this year. And I am confident that Malaysia will be able to meet its 28 million tourist arrival target and collect RM76 billion from the industry.”
