KUCHING: The Borneo Cultural Museum here, which is touted to be the second largest museum in Southeast Asia, is expected to welcome the public in the middle of this year.
Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the ministry is now in the process of selecting the date for the official opening.
“We just had a meeting with the Sarawak Museum Department (on the opening of the museum), it should be in the middle of the year.
“As for now, we are still getting the date from the person who is going to officiate it,” he said in a press conference at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) on Friday (Jan 21).
However, Abdul Karim did not reveal who will officiate at the opening of the new museum.
On another note, he said that the events for the state’s tourism calendar had been prepared and the ministry was closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation.
“But the tourism industry can only flourish when there are visitors, be it domestic or international coming to the state.
“And looking at the emergence of the Omicron variant affecting other countries, I hope that it will not affect us in Sarawak.
“Because if there is another lockdown, it is going to be very difficult for us,” he said.
Abdul Karim added that the number of visitors as of Dec 2021 compared to Dec 2020 had shot up by more than 500 per cent and this showed that people were coming into the state.
“There might not be international visitors, but there are those from West Malaysia and Sabah coming through our airport. So, we are slowly going back to our normal number of visitors into the state,” he said.
Personally, he also hoped to see that the international music events such as Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF), Borneo Jazz Festival (BJF) and Miri Country Music Fest (MCMF) could be held physically this year.
“But of course, this will still depend on the Covid-19 situation for the next one or two months.
“If things are okay, we will proceed (with organising the event physically), but we will definitely set up the committee to get (the events) going.
“… because we cannot live like this for too long,” said Abdul Karim.
