LETTER | Accusations against Matta made without any fact or evidence

LETTER | We refer to the letter dated Jan 31, 2021, sent by M Farid M Fauzan accusing “Matta done nothing to help tourism industry except appear in the media.”

We categorically deny all such accusations by this person who has obviously made them without any fact or evidence. He obviously takes great delight in being an “armchair critic” – one who remains oblivious and ignorant of the facts. 

Furthermore, if this person is a tourism practitioner, we would dearly like to know what contributions (if any) he has made to help save the industry?

Funnily enough, Farid wrote that Matta should have “forced its way” into the ministry when the tourism blueprint was being developed. I would like to point out that we are a professional organisation and we observe good Malaysian manners. There are protocols and courtesies that need to be observed but then again, perhaps Farid should lead by example since he feels so strongly about it.

Since March 2020, Matta has met with the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) in at least five different meetings and with finance minister twice, inclusive of one session on the National Budget 2021 Consultation, and another meeting with the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department.

In all these sessions/meetings, we had explained at length the impact of the pandemic to the tourism industry and presented many appropriate proposals to the government to help and support the tourism industry which has been badly crippled. 

Matta has also been meeting with senior officers of the Tourism Ministry and Tourism Malaysia on numerous occasions with regard to the state of the industry. Matta, together with other tourism-related associations have engaged Motac numerous times on a variety of issues – all of them on how to ease the burden of the industry and how to plan to move forward.

Matta is a non-government organisation (NGO)/trade association and we have submitted many ideas and proposals to the ministry accordingly. The ministry, as a component of the government, has the authority to make the necessary changes and develop the roadmap for recovery post-pandemic. 

Motac and the government of the day alone wield the authority to implement change – Farid on the other hand would naively have us believe that an NGO possesses that authority.

The government must continuously engage with the private sector stakeholders, such as the tourism-related associations and industry leaders to reset the tourism paradigm and chart a way forward for the industry. 

The real sense of the “public-private partnership “ must be put in place realistically and effectively; the ministry should not take the stance of “they know best” (it would be unfair for us to expect the ministry alone to know-it-all). 

Ministers and senior officers in the ministry come and go whereas private sectors stakeholders are in the industry for the long haul and have made huge investments in the industry.

Matta always has and will continue to play our role effectively together to assist and support the ministry and the industry to go through this very difficult and challenging period.

PHUA TAI NENG is the CEO of Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta).   

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.