"PENDET" DANCE SHOULD NO LONGER BE AN ISSUE - DPM

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 3 (Bernama) -- The controversy over the "pendet" dance
should no longer arise as the tourism advertisement containing footages of the
dance was not produced by the Malaysian government, Deputy Prime Minister
Muhyiddin Yassin said.

"This episode should now stop as it is clear that the advertisement is not
produced by any of the Malaysian government agencies," he told reporters after
chairing a meeting of the cabinet committee on tourism here Thursday.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that Discovery Channel, which produced the
advertisement, had written a letter to the Indonesian tourism ministry to
explain that the video clip was not produced by the Malaysian government.

Muhyiddin said that Indonesia should accept the explanation.

He also said that he hoped that the explanation could put a stop to the
issue.

Muhyiddin was commenting on the statement by Indonesian tourism minister
Jero Wacik who slammed the advertisement for featuring the pendet dance, a
traditional Balinese dance.

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen confirmed that the ministry had
received a copy of the letter sent by the Discovery Channel to the Indonesian
tourism ministry.

On the meeting Thursday, Muhyiddin said among issues discussed was the need
for better coordination among agencies, departments and ministries involved
directly in tourism promotion.

He said that coordination was important to ensure that information contained
in tourism promotion materials were accurate and that marketing efforts reached
their target groups.

"We have also discussed the Influenza A(H1N1) situation and the economic
downturn which have somewhat affected the tourism industry," he said.

He said that the meeting decided to intensify tourism promotion in specific
markets, to identify new markets, to implement a more innovative campaign such
as through the tourism ambassador concept and to encourage charter flights.

"We will also facilitate tourist arrivals through visa waiver and multiple
entry visas, apart from setting up a tourist hospitality unit at the KL
International Airport," he said.

New events would also be introduced such as the Malaysian Fabulous Food
Festival in October and December this year, Malaysian Holiday Dances also in
December and Shoes Festival in March next year.

"We should also ensure that events will not overlap one another to prevent
changes to the tourism calendar as this will inconvenience the tourists," he
said.
-- BERNAMA