ARTS activists fear that Terengganu’s new policy to regulate entertainment programmes will not only stifle local creative arts and Malay cultural works but also harm its tourism industry.

They said the new regulations, which come into force at year-end, will end up hurting local tourism, which has been a platform to showcase local culture and creativity.

A local arts advocate, who would only give his first name, Helmi, said the east coast state would stand to lose one of its major draws for visitors, if the PAS-led government presses ahead with its regulations.

“As it is, in Terengganu there are no longer performances of the gamelan, rodat and wayang kulit. The fact is these cultural shows helped to attract tourists in the past,” the 32-year-old told The Malaysian Insight.

Terengganu recently took the step of stopping all entertainment and cultural performances to draw up new guidelines and regulations.

State exco for tourism, culture and information technology Ariffin Deraman said the new policy will also contain guidelines for non-Muslim performances.

These include the possibility that stage performances can only be presented by male singers and dancers.

If female performers are involved, the show can only be presented to a female audience, and in an enclosed area.

Other regulations in the pipeline include preventing mixed performances of men and women on stage and requiring female performers to wear the tudung (headscarf).

A tour operator who wanted to be known only as Khairul, 46, said Terengganu is becoming too obsessed with erecting more buildings in the name of development and fails to realise the unique value of its local arts and culture.

Khairul cited the Marang district as an example where the state government demolished an old building and built a new district office in the 1990s.

The old building had unique features and was a draw for tourists, he added.

With local architecture and culture gone, tourists now head straight for the islands off Terengganu’s coast and no longer stop at Marang, like they used to.

“In the past, Western tourists liked to stay in Marang, which they considered as having some kind of ‘cowboy’ charm”.

“But once the old buildings were demolished, I would say Marang lost about half its usual number of tourists,” said Khairul, who has been running tours in the state for the last three decades.

Tour operators are not against development but want the state to appreciate the local area’s heritage and preserve it for tourism potential, he said.

Bad marketing

Terengganu has seen little growth in tourist arrivals in recent years and might have received a boost from this year’s Visit Malaysia Year had the Covid-19 outbreak not happen.

In 2017, Terengganu recorded 4.8 million tourists arrivals and in 2018, 4.79 million. For 2020, it targeted five million arrivals.

But local resident Azizul, 35, who works at an event management company, doubts the state government under PAS can bring in those numbers.

Even without the Covid-19 virus outbreak, tourism in Terengganu was already in the doldrums. The state’s Visit Malaysia Year 2020 promotions are unattractive, he said.

“The state has not held enough promotions in conjunction with VMY 2020 and from observation, there aren’t even many banners or pamphlets to let people know that it is Visit Malaysia Year.”

The only VMY 2020 banners are those outside the Sultan Mahmud airport and at the Pasar Payang market.

“There aren’t even leaflets on VMY 2020 at the information counter at the Sultan Hamid airport.”

Azizul said he can’t understand why the state government is not doing more to promote VMY 2020 in Terengganu.

“After all, they should have a budget from oil royalty. In this regard, Terengganu is backward. They are still doing things the old way. They (the government) is not social media savvy… to help in tourism campaigns.

“Then you have those in power, in charge of tourism, when they don’t understand a thing about it.” – February 18, 2020.