CHIEF Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Haji Noor said Sabah is ready to receive visitors and that the reopening of the country’s borders on April 1 will facilitate the State’s economic recovery which was affected since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.
He said the closing of Malaysia’s borders for nearly two years had impacted the state’s tourism sector which represents one of the main sources of revenue for Sabah and industry players have also requested for the country’s borders to be reopened soon.
However, he stressed that the reopening must comply with effective standard operating procedures (SOPs) to curb the spread of Covid-19 and its variants.
“Sabah is ready to receive visitors which will help the economy. However, we will wait for a detailed announcement so that we can coordinate the SOPs to meet the state’s needs,” he said in a statement.
On Mar 8, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that the country’s borders will be reopened on April 1, in line with Malaysia’s plans to enter the ‘Transition to Endemic’ phase.
State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun had said that the state Covid-19 Disaster Management Committee would wait for the detailed SOPs to be announced before making any proposals connected to the reopening of the country’s borders by the Federal Government.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin agreed with Hajiji but also stressed that the reopening of borders had to be done together with strict SOPs.
“Any form of implementation concerning the reopening of borders must be done with care to ensure risks to public health are controlled. Protocols and guidelines on quarantine rules, for example, need to be enforced to curb infections, especially new variants such as Omicron,” he said.
He said the steps taken towards the reopening borders are important too to ensure economic activities in the country remained competitive, especially in the inter-segments of the tourism sector which could contribute to the country’s revenue.
“Through a systematic and closely supervised reopening of the country’s borders, the economic sectors, especially the tourism industry which was severely affected by the pandemic, can be revived and subsequently have a positive impact on the country’s economic recovery,” he said.
He also said the government needed to emulate the strategies and approaches taken by other countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines which implemented a planned border reopening in phases to revitalise economic sectors severely affected by Covid-19.
Bung Moktar added that Malaysia and other countries in the region needed to expedite the opening of their borders to help economic recovery, especially in the trade and tourism sectors without increasing the risks to people’s health.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said it is good news to all tourism industry players, especially in reviving the sector after two years being hit by the pandemic.
“I urge all tourism operators to make early preparation to receive foreign visitors,” he said in a statement.
“The Ministry together with all relevant agencies will intensify promotion to market tourism products and locations in Sabah internationally.”
The Ministry would continue to provide cooperation and support any government effort to realise the re-opening of borders.
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