BACHOK, Feb 14 — This year’s Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) has been postponed to avoid clashing with the hosting of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA’19) Exhibition, which is scheduled to be held at the end of next month.
The LTdL was scheduled to be held from March 24-31 and LIMA’19 from March 26-30.
Youth and Sports Minister, Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who confirmed the postponement following the decision made at the Cabinet meeting yesterday, said the new dates for the LTdL would be announced soon by the ministry’s secretary-general, Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali.
“The main reason (for the postponement) is because we do not want both these international events in Langkawi to clash, and (Prime Minister) Tun Mahathir (Mohamad) takes a serious view of both the LTdL and LIMA’19 as they are his brainchild.
“We want to ensure international interest in Langkawi can be divided into two phases,” he told reporters after a town hall session with youths at Institut Kemahiran Tinggi Belia Negara (IKTBN) Bachok, here, today.
He said the government also planned to restore LIMA’19 to its former glory by giving it wider local and international media coverage.
“We cannot hold the LTdL and LIMA’19 at the same time as the media will give coverage for both events.
“The television stations also do not want the two events to clash as they will need helicopters and drones for their coverage, but that will be difficult because the air space will be closed and monitored during LIMA’19,” he said. — Bernama
