KUALA TERENGGANU: His friends and family back home in Beijing were donning layers of clothes in anticipation of early winter. But Mr Wei Yu-Min was in a singlet, shorts and flip flops, holidaying more than 4,000 km away in the Malaysian city of Kuala Terengganu.
Mr Wei was again impressed. He snapped more photos, and took a while to stretch his legs and enjoy the view, as fishermen nearby greeted him with a nod.He had travelled all this way to head to Pulau Redang for a diving trip. In an interview with CNA, Mr Ariffin Deraman, Terengganu’s executive council chairman for tourism, culture and information technology said:"Tourism benefits the locals directly."
Terengganu currently do not allow holiday cruises to stop at the state. But that could all change soon, says the state government. To help meet this objective, Mr Ariffin said the government is planning to allow holiday cruises from neighbouring cities to stop by the state. The move would be a departure from the state government's religious stance, considering that many of the cruises have casinos – and gambling is illegal in Terengganu.
“We have received word that there is no opposition for cruises to come. To use an analogy, if a traveller drives pass Terengganu and stops by a stall to buy some banana fritters while drinking a bottle of wine in his car, the sale is fine,” he said. The amount Terengganu has received in 2019 is more than five per cent of the annual value of petroleum deposits extracted off the hydrocarbon-rich state.
In order to build up their own capital to govern the state, Tengku Hassan said that he has conducted discussions with foreign investors to pump their money into Terengganu. “These are projects that may take five years to materialise. It will take time for us to plan, commission, and execute. But it’s important for Terengganu because it gives our people jobs and money for the government to fund our projects,” said Tengku Hassan.SOME LOCALS WARY OF FOREIGNERS INFLUX