Govt mulls making island the ‘Monaco of the East’ for luxury tourism

People’s leader: Najib sharing a light moment with some youths during the launch of the Langkawi Digital Carnival at Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC). — Bernama

LANGKAWI: Plans are being made to further improve tourism in Langkawi with the implementation of luxury tourism and the promotion of people’s tourism concepts for the island, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He added that the Government was considering two concepts in further developing Langkawi as a tourist destination, one of which was to make it the “Monaco of the East” for luxury tourism and the other to promote people’s tourism.

“We have laid the foundation to bring Langkawi to the next phase of development,” he said at the “Leader with the People” programme and at the launch of the People’s Housing Project and Chenang fishermen’s jetty here yesterday.

Najib also said Langkawi will retain its duty-free status as long as the Barisan Nasional government remained in power.

“In fact, we will bring more projects to the island.”

Najib said the successful development of Langkawi was not due to the efforts of any individual or Umno leader alone, but because of the strong support of the party members he led.

He also said that the housing project launched here proved the Government is concerned for the need of the people on the island to own their own homes.

The RM242mil project is expected to be completed by 2019.

“This is not a political project because the contractor has already started work on it,” he said of the project which involves the construction of five blocks of 11-storey apartments.

At another function, Najib said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s attempts to vilify the country’s leaders have backfired on him.

Without naming the former premier, he said it has been understood that the country’s leaders would pass the mantle to their successors and give them the opportunity to lead in their own way.

“I’ve always wanted the best for the country, having transformed it for the better by bringing in more development and investments.

“This former leader may have forgotten, but I remember it is the principle of a Prime Minister to do good for the country,” he said at the opening of the Langkawi Umno division delegates meeting.

Najib said Umno’s principles dictated that a former party leader should respect the initiatives carried out by the present Prime Minister.

“This has been done since the tenure of the first prime minister and we continue to carry on the good work done by our predecessors,” he added.

Najib also thanked the Langkawi Umno members who have stayed loyal to the party.

Earlier, Najib launched Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad’s digital mobile application “i-Muamalat Mobile” during the Langkawi Digital Carnival.

The service, which can be downloaded from Google Play Store and Apple Store, offers customers online banking services such as money transfers, bill payments and credit top-up payments for handphone users.