ARAB CITY IN KL CAN LURE INVESTORS TO MALAYSIA

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 (Bernama) -- A successful completion of the proposed "Arab City" here will attract more Arab investors to Malaysia, Managing Director of Golden Corporate Heritage Sdn Bhd, Hesham El Din Fathi Mohamed said.

He said there were a lot of Arab investors waiting to see our model, if it
is going to succeed or not.

"Most of them came here and tried (to ivest) but get back with a negative
feeling (because of bureaucratic red tape)," he told Bernama in an interview
here recently.

Bureaucratic red tape has forced the company to develop Arab City here
earlier, which is designed to be a symbolic gateway connecting Malaysia to the
Middle East, and to move from its site in Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur to
Melaka, which promises a 24-hour approval for the project.

Golden Corporate Heritage is undertaking the Arab City project in Melaka.

It is a joint venture between Dubai, Saudi Arabian and Malaysian partners,
the company has branch offices in Dubai and Saudi Arabia with diverse interests
in real estate, trading and oil and gas business.

Although, the Arab City project in Melaka has started, Hesyam said he still
wanted to go ahead with the project here because Kuala Lumpur is the Federal
capital.

With concerns that the global economic crisis would affect the Middle east
badly, Hesyam said they studied the situation very well and found that Malaysia
was a very suitable place for them.

Despite the lack of a "special offer" to investors, Malaysia was very
stable, its people friendly and easily accept the Arabic culture, which in
itself presents a very good environment for Arab investors.

Hesyam said one million Arab tourists came to Malaysia and they spend 10
times more than the others.

For the past seven months, he said 250,000 Arabs came to Malaysia although
it is not the holiday season and they spent RM5 billion.

Hesyam said when the Arabs came here, his staff went to the shopping areas
especially in Bukit Bintang and interviewed Arab tourists to know how they
felt in Malaysia including the problems they faced and the things they
hope to have here to make them come back again.

Based on the interviews, Hesyam said Arab tourists want an integrated
place that has the feel of Arabian culture, food and tradition.

He said there were cases in Bukit Bintang for example, where these Arabs do
not feel comfortable with.

So, when they do not feel comfortable here, he said they would not come back
for the second time.

However, Hesyam said the Ministry of Tourism which has been tracking tourist
trends says the number of Arab tourists keep on increasing every year.

"If we received 750,000 this year and we received one million next
year, it goes without saying that we are doing well," he said.

Despite this, he said: "Actually, we are not doing well.

Hesyam laments how is most places in the world there is a China town, Little
India but we have not not seen an Arab city.

So his company decided to set up the Arab city here in Kuala Lumpur that
would provide a brand for the Arab tradition, a safe 24-hour concept like areas
to cater for Arab tourists and their children.

He said the Arab City would be a 24 hour concept because the Arabs have no
place to go to after 10 pm except Bukit Bintang.

He said that Arab City here would provide 1,000 jobs.

He said the Arab City in Melaka started first because they have got speedier
approval from the state government.

However, Hesyam said he is now banking his hopes on new Tourism Minister
Dr Ng Yen Yen, saying, "we are hoping that somebody will come and discuss
with us about Arab city here.
-- BERNAMA