Travel advisory warning to Sabah east coast still in place – British High Commissioner

KOTA KINABALU: The UK travel advisory warning its citizens from visiting islands and dive sites at Sabah’s east coast from Sandakan to Tawau as well as Lankayan Island, is still in place.

British High Commissioner to Malaysia, Ailsa Terry, said that this was because they still believe there are kidnapping risks there.

She added that the kidnapfor-ransom groups have lessened their activities but they are still active in the region and because of that, the travel advisory cannot be changed.

“I would love it if we can remove the travel advisory but at the moment, according to our assessment, it is still there. But we are working on how we can improve the security situation with Sabah,” she said to The Borneo Post when met at Le Meridien here recently.

Terry added that this was why they want a closer cooperation between the UK and Sabah security officials.

Although the UK travel advisory is in place to warn its citizens from visiting the areas concerned, she believed that there are still some who go there.

“It does happen and that is why we have the travel advisory in place to warn them to please don’t go to this area. The safety risk is too high. Their travel insurance is invalid if they go there. It is a risk if they do that,” she added.

Terry also said that the UK government has changed its travel advice against traveling to islands and dive sites in the maritime area around Kudat.

She added that she visited the islands around the area 13 years ago.

“I knew how beautiful they were from the experience I had,” she said.

“We still encourage all tourists to look at our travel advisory very carefully before they travel to that region. We want to make it easier for British nationals to come to Sabah and increase tourism between the UK and Sabah, in a safe way,” she said.

Terry, whose visit to the State Capital recently included meeting Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor, also said that the issue of forging closer cooperation on security to manage risk and grow tourism over the years to come were among the issues raised with the Chief Minister.

She added that about 25,000 British and Irish tourists come to Sabah every year.

“It is pretty high but I think there is still room for it to grow,” she said.

At the same time, half a million people from Malaysia visit the UK annually, she said.

Terry also said her long-term dream is having a UK university to partner in Sabah.

“I don’t think we have at the moment,” she said.

She added that there are about five or six UK universities in Malaysia but there are all located in Peninsular Malaysia.

Terry also mentioned having a meeting with Lancaster University and the university was in Malaysia due to their interest to expand.

She added that she would talk to them about her trip to Sabah and Sarawak.

During the interview, Terry also encouraged Sabahans with plans to pursue their Master’s degree to apply for the Chevening Scholarship.

“We have had a few candidates from Sabah but never as many as we like,” she said.

She explained that the scholarship allows its recipients to pursue a fully paid one-year master’s degree of his or her choice in the UK.

Terry said that they receive thousands of applicants annually and Malaysia would get about 50 places per year.