"WE ARE QUITE SURPRISED WHY MAS DECIDED TO SUSPEND THE FLIGHTS BECAUSE WE ARE EXPECTING THIS MARKET TO GROW,"

Just when more Japanese due

Kota Kinabalu Dec 29, 2011: Malaysia Airlines is suspending direct KK-Tokyo and Osaka flights just as traffic is set to grow, said Reiko Tsunone, Manager of Borneo Trail that caters for the Japanese market.

"We are quite surprised why MAS decided to suspend the flights because we are expecting this market to grow, " said Reiko, who has worked in Sabah for nearly a decade.

She noted that 26,000 Japanese tourists visited Sabah as of 31 October.

"Actually Sabah is becoming the most popular spot for the Japanese market in Malaysia, much more than Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi.

"The reason is nature, beach resorts, mountain, jungles, wildlife and diving. Japanese are getting more interested in nature, unlike before," Reiko said.

"In the past, we traveled for shopping, more on cities but now the trend is changing towards nature and sports as well.

"Sports tourism may be new but we see it coming," Reiko noted, citing the arrival of former Japan national player and All Japan Inter-College Champion and now Professor of Sports, Prof Chikako Ikarugi, who led four top student players of the Konan University, Kobe, for a three-day international exchange for youth, under the Asean-Japan Centre Sports Project, last Tuesday.

The four are Yuya Tadokoro, 21, Masato Ichii , 20, Jumpei Ikada, 19, and Tsukasa Chigira, 21, along with Ms Machiko Sakaki, Director of Promotion with Holiday Club Co Ltd and Takamasa Hashitomi, press and information office manager.

"Even though this is a small number, we start slowly and we are expecting this market will grow especially because Malaysia is very strong in badminton, stronger than Japan and Japanese players can learn from Malaysian players, " Reiko said.

"Since Malaysia Airlines has disappointed all of us, we are going to work very hard to bring even more tourists from Japan via Air Asia through Hong Kong," said KL Tan, Managing Director of Borneo Trail.

Immediately after their arrival in Kota Kinabalu Tuesday afternoon, the Japanese group headed for the Sabah Sports Complex to spar with the top State players Nurdin Mohd Said (State champ '03, '04, '05, '07 and 2010), Nurfadli Mohd Said ( State champ 2010); Datu Amirdin Moksin (State cham '05, '07), Marcel Simon (Current national junior player), Timy Foo (State champ 08), Andy Jr Fabian (State U-16 champ '09, U-18, '09, '10, '11), Mohd Syafig Saide (State player '08) and Anthony Saimim (Current State U17 champ).

On Wednesday, State coach Yapp Su Chiew gave the Japanese a coaching session before they played against both the State team and top student players of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

Another playing session with the State team for Thursday before the Japanese fly home on Friday.

------------------------------------

Warisan Harta against the MAS plans that involve Sabah

Kota Kinabalu Dec 29, 2011: Warisan Harta Sabah Sdn Bhd (WHSSB), the State Government's fully-owned investment arm which acts as Malaysia Airlines System Berhad's (MAS) minority equity shareholder, on Wednesday voiced its disagreement to the national airline company's rationalisation plan that involves Sabah.

Sharing the general public view in Sabah that MAS should do its social obligation and prioritise on this more than its commercial ambition, it urged the Federal and State Governments to play their roles to find a much better alternative to address this issue.

Its Chairman Datuk Haji Ramlee Marahaban was responding to MAS' decision to suspend temporarily the twice-weekly Kota Kinabalu-Osaka service from Jan 6, thrice-weekly Kota Kinabalu-Perth from Jan 31, four times weekly Kota Kinabalu-Haneda from Feb. 1 and four times weekly Kota Kinabalu-Seoul from Feb. 21.

These are in addition to MAS' rationalisation exercise involving eight routes of its international network announced last week.

He said WHSSB viewed the decision made by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, as the Federal Government's investment arm and the biggest shareholder in MAS, to implement a share swap with Tune Air Sdn Bhd as just to protect the commercial interests of both airline companies because it was made without seeking the view of WHSSB which represented the State Government (minority shareholder).

For the consumers and business people in Sabah, he said, the decision to suspend the said international flight services by MAS is very frustrating and feared this would affect not only investment activities but also tourist arrivals as well as the interest of foreign airlines to land at Kota Kinabalu International Airport.

He said this will also affect the West-East Malaysia national integration mission and objective, as both MAS and AirAsia without any healthy competition between them would only pursue their commercial objective alone and no more prioritise on social obligation.

"I believe the objective of national integration is still relevant and not old-fashioned," he said, in a statement.

Ramlee, who is also Bugaya Assemblyman, suggested that Sabah and Sarawak State Governments have a re-look at rationalising the roles of MASwings and Sabah Air Sdn Bhd with an objective to merge both into one entity to cater to the domestic and Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines - East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

"This should be looked at seriously by MAS, as the proprietor of MASwings, because the company belongs to Malaysians and should not be simply handed over just for the commercial interests of certain individuals," he said.

------------------------