IPOH: It was an enthralling exploration for 23 journalists from 16 media agencies across the nation who participated in Kembara Media Perak 2019 programme from June 28 to July 1, 2019.
Organised by the Malaysia Information Department (JaPEN), the programme aimed to promote local and traditional offerings that are found in various districts of Perak — Ipoh, Royal Belum Rainforest, Taiping, and Kuala Kangsar.
The four-day-and-three-night programme gave journalists a chance to explore selected places of attractions and accommodations along the way.
Essentially to provide a room for the state government to clarify current issues regarding development project implementation, the department’s deputy media director Radziah Mohd Sharif said the programme had a crucial role to inform the public.
“This programme aims to provide an opportunity for the government to promote development programmes that directly benefit the people.
“Through media exposure, we hope that they would help to publish accurate information in order to increase public awareness of fake news,” she told New Sarawak Tribune during an interview.
Highlighting the places of attractions through four major scopes that included capital development, socio-cultural, community outreach programmes, and ecotourism industry, she revealed that the Perak government is emphasising tourism industry as its prior objective to spur economic growth.
“The Perak government has selected a few places of interest for the media entourage to visit, namely Gunung Lang Recreational Park, Movie Animations Park Studios (MAPS), The Lost World of Tambun, Royal Belum Rainforest, and Safari Night at Taiping Zoo.
“Such places are the state’s tourism assets to boost the ecotourism scene. Thus, the media entourage would need to produce stories for promotional purposes,” she added.
Among the interesting places and activities that fascinated participants during the expedition were the Royal Belum Rainforest, Orang Asli
settlement at Kampung Klewang, entertainment show at Movie Animation Park Studios, and the first-hand experience in the production of Labu Sayong at KZ Kraf Shop.
The state department’s director Mohd Taib Ubah and media and corporate communication division director Dr Haniff Hassan were also present throughout the four-day
programme.
