KUALA LUMPUR: Despite its name, Islamic tourism is not exclusively for Muslims. Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) president Datuk Mohd Khalid Harun said non-Muslims were also welcome to join Muslim tour packages.
“Non-Muslims can join the tours as their needs will most likely fit in with those of Muslims. We must give exposure to people on where the prominent must-go Muslim sites are. “Operators can also leverage what they have and stand to profit,” said Mohd Khalid at a press conference after the opening ceremony of the World Islamic Tourism Mart (WITM) here.
MATTA vice-president (outbound) Jeffri Sulaiman said destinations for Muslim tours need not be sites like mosques all the time. “Muslims are just like other travellers. They want to go to the same places that non-Muslims want to visit, like Disneyland.“The activities are almost the same except for the prayers, which can be just a five-minute wait,” said Jeffri.
WITM, which opened at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday, features a business-to-business travel expo with 122 booths as well as a travel fair with 54 booths catering to Muslim travellers. The tourism mart, organised by MATTA, is on until tomorrow.
-thestar online.
YIP KUM FOOK: Pempena ordered to wind up
ReplyDeletePosted on 8 July 2012 - 09:55pm
Last updated on 9 July 2012 - 12:05pm
R. Nadeswaran
citizen-nades@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR (July 8, 2012): The controversial and financially troubled business arm of Tourism Malaysia – Pembangunan Pelancongan Nasional Sdn Bhd (Pempena) – has ceased to exist.
Last month, the High Court ordered the company to be wound up and a liquidator appointed to manage its affairs.
The winding up petition, which was undefended, was moved by Kah Bintang Auto Sdn Bhd after
Pempena, a subsidiary of the Tourism Ministry, failed to pay RM12.4 million for the purchase of 120 units of Hyundai Sonata for its taxi service.
According to court papers filed at the High Court registry, Kah Bintang claimed Pempena failed to pay the money ordered by another High Court in April last year after a protracted hearing in a breach-of-contract suit in which both parties were represented.
Following the judgment, the law firm representing Pempena, Ringo Wong and Associates, discharged itself and Messrs Hafirizam Wan and Aisha Mubarak was appointed its lawyers.
In his affidavit, Kah Bintang managing director Datuk Robert Wong said letters of demand which were sent by registered post in September last year to both the registered and business addresses were returned.
However, the same letters sent to four of its directors – Datuk Yip Kum Fook(Who is bad name in Buddhist, MCA GOMBAK), Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai, Syed Abdul Rahman and Jaigani Jaafar – were acknowledged as received.
Having had no response, Kah Bintang published advertisements of winding up in two national newspapers and hearing for the petition was set for June 13.
Pempena was not represented at the hearing and accordingly, the court gave the company 14 days to pay up or be wound up. As of June 27, no monies were forthcoming and the liquidator is to be appointed in the next few days.
Meanwhile when contacted, Lim, who is the deputy finance minister, told theSun that Pempena's directors had given the company's chief executive officer instructions upon receiving notice of the winding-up petition.
The CEO had been told to instruct the lawyers to file a defence, but they did not, said Lim who did not respond to further attempts at getting clarification.
Pempena was set up in 1976 to carry out tourism-related business and development.
Over the years, it hit the headlines after various bad deals came to light, resulting in massive losses for the company.
In 2009, an independent audit ordered by the ministry showed only a few of the 24 companies invested in by Pempena showed profits in the past three years.
On May 29, theSun reported that Pempena's stake in the controversial loss-making restaurant Awana Chelsea in London had been sold.
It had previously closed its doors on similar outlets in Beijing and Hyderabad.
According to the auditor-general's report tabled last year, Pempena's venture in opening the London restaurant had brought "dismal results", raking in only £13,000 (about RM64,000) in 2007, far from its annual target of £520,692 (RM2.5 million).
The report also noted that Pempena had yet to get any returns from its RM3.73 million investment.