IPOH, Sept 25 — The Ipoh-Langkawi flight services have not been terminated, but only temporarily suspended, said state Tourism, Industry, Investment and Corridor Development Committee chairman Loh Sze Yee.
Loh said he had referred the matter to AirAsia and the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport (LTSAS). However, the flight resumption date has yet to be ascertained and requires study from the relevant parties.
“Any flight route is under the purview of the airline, and also with the cooperation and approval of the federal government,” he said during a question and answer session at the state assembly sitting here today.
He said this in his reply to a question from Tiw Tiee Siang (PH-Tronoh) on the reason for the termination of the Ipoh-Langkawi flights, apart from the flight routes which will be available from the airport.
Meanwhile, answering a question about Perak’s unexplored heritage, Loh said the promotion of Dabus, one of the state’s traditional dances, needs to be expanded to the international and domestic scene as it is not well known to the public, including the local community.
“One of the Perak heritages which I am very proud of and that we need to expand is the Dabus. The Dabus dance only exists in Perak, nowhere else.
“It’s just that if you said about promoting ‘wayang kulit’ perhaps you can do it in Kelantan, the southern part of Thailand and so on, but the Dabus dance is only in Perak, it’s a little sad that we don’t know much about the existence of this Dabus dance,” he said.
Therefore, he assured that the state government will make necessary efforts to protect Perak’s heritage, especially in terms of culture so that it can be passed on to future generations, in addition to developing the tourism sector.
He said this in response to a supplementary question from Berhanudin Ahmad (PN-Manong) about whether there is a specific provision for universities or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) wanting to conduct research on the data of unexplored Perak heritages.
