‘Visit Malaysia Year’ Sees Tourism Boost

Malaysia started taking tourism seriously only three years ago, but learned fast.

One million foreign visitors arrived in the first three months of 1990, designated Visit Malaysia Year, more than double the same period of 1989.

That doesn’t count 2 million people who dropped in from Singapore, the prosperous city-state next door.

The numbers may not be large compared to renowned vacation spots, but are impressive for a place that almost had to be coaxed into putting out the welcome mat.

“For a long time, there was no political will to develop the industry,” said Sabbaruddin Chik, culture and tourism minister.

Malaysia remained aloof for years while its neighbors wooed frees-pending foreigners. It is comfortably cushioned by an array of resources and is developing manufacturing to supplement exports of natural rubber, palm oil, cocoa, pepper, tropical hardwoods, tin, petroleum and natural gas.

Tourism’s status as a major international industry finally prompted the government to create a Ministry of Tourism and Culture in 1987.

Chauvinists immediately demanded the names be reversed to give culture precedence over selling the country to foreigners for profit, something that might be tolerated but not particularly liked. They prevailed.

A speaker told a forum in January the Visit Malaysia Year campaign is “making a mockery of Malaysian society,” something for which the people are not socially prepared.

Minister Sabbaruddin’s response to that: “If you wait until everything is ready before you promote tourism, we will never, ever be ready.”

Promoters try to reconcile their goals with the conservative habits of a country that has Islam as its official religion.

While the culture has no tradition of tourism, it does put a premium on hospitality. Both social dictates and Islam enjoin Malaysians to treat guests better than themselves.

There are limits, however. Without consulting Sabbaruddin, the Culture Division of his ministry banned a Valentine’s Day performance by pop singer LaToya Jackson, elder sister of Michael Jackson.

She posed semi-nude for Playboy magazine last year, Kuala Lumpur newspapers reported, and an official said her presence was “against the values and norms of the local culture.”

Visit Malaysia Year, launched with much hoopla in 1988, was designed to attract foreigners and get them to stay longer, foster the arts and culture and encourage locals to see Malaysia first before they venture abroad.

Appointed mascot was Wira the orangutan, representing an endangered species of ape found only in Borneo and Sumatra. Independence Day, Aug. 31, is the anchor for 84 major events, 14 festivals and nine exhibitions.

Malaysia offers distinctive Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures along with the architectural heritage of its Portuguese, Dutch and British colonizers.

There are unspoiled jungles, spectacular coral, clean beaches and hill resorts above the tropical heat. One resort has a casino.

Sightseers can watch rubber trees being tapped and monkeys helping harvest coconuts from tall palms. In Borneo, they can spend the night in the longhouses of former headhunters.

The official target for the year is more than 4.2 million tourists and earnings of $926 million, compared to 3.9 million people and $741 million last year. Malaysia was fourth in the region in 1989 after Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

Before the campaign began, tourism promoters worried that Malaysia had no readily identifiable image abroad, except perhaps as the country that had sentenced 250 people to death for drug trafficking since 1975 and hanged 84 so far.

Officials were not amused when comedian Steve Martin, an announcer on the Academy Awards telecast in March, told an international live audience:

“We would have liked to have gone ‘live’ from Malaysia, but the TV crew got hung at the airport.”