KUCHING, July 1 — Sarawak Tourism Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said today he has submitted a request to the judiciary for a special tourism court to expedite cases involving foreign tourists.
The state minister said he had submitted his request to Chief Judge of Sarawak and Sabah Tan Sri Richard Malanjum.
“We would like the judiciary to set [up] Tourism Court as soon as possible, but it is up to them to decide on date of its implementation,” he told reporters at his Hari Raya open house here today.
He said the ordinary court process took time to complete, like gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses.
Karim said after the first mention or first hearing of the case involving foreign tourists as victims of snatch theft, the full trial may take three months to be heard.
He said by that time, the tourists would have gone back to their countries.
“The case then will be thrown out because the victims will not be around to testify in court,” he said, explaining the reason why he wants all cases involving tourists as victims to be expedited.
Karim, who is a lawyer by profession, said he wants justice to prevail with the setting up of the Tourism Court.
On the tourism tax, Karim said he will lead his ministry delegation for a meeting with Sabah on July 4 to discuss a common stand on tourism and the tourism tax.
“Hopefully, we can come up with a joint stand these issues,” he said, expressing his doubt that the tax would be imposed on August 1, the new date announced by the federal tourism ministry.
He said in his meeting with the Sarawak chapter of the Malaysian Hotel Association last week, its members have raised many problems.
“One of the things they raised was on the mechanics of the tax, like collections of the money from the tourists and handing it over to the Customs Department,” he said, adding that many of the hoteliers and industry players have not received anything on the tax from the federal tourism ministry.
