MOTAC public facilities closed until 30 April due to Covid-19

By Laura Lee

Mindful of the health concerns and to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture’s (MOTAC) has instructed that all public facilities under the purview of its departments and agencies to temporarily close until 30 April.

In a statement issued on 16 March, its minister Datuk Sri Nancy Shukri told the heads of these government departments and agencies to disinfect their respective public facilities. They involve the:

•  Department of Museums or Jabatan Muzium Malaysia (JMM)     
• National Art Gallery (NAG) or Balai Seni Negara (BSN) 
•          Department of National Heritage or Jabatan Warisan Negara (JWN)
•          National Archives of Malaysia or Arkib Negara Malaysia (ANM)
•       Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation (Kraftangan Malaysia)
•          National Library of Malaysia
•          National Department for Culture and Arts or Jabatan Kebudayaan dan Kesenian Negara (JKKN)
•          Istana Budaya, and 
•          Malaysia Tourism Centre or MATIC.
  

The full list of these public facilities can be found in the ministry’s website, MOTAC.GOV.MY. 

JMM has 20 museums nationwide under its ambit. I have had the opportunity to visit most of them over the years. Still remember a media familiarisation trip organised to the museums in Peninsular Malaysia which I participated many moons ago.

As for the NAG, I have been to the one in KL and was unaware there have one located in Langkawi despite numerous trips to this legendary island.

Under JWN's three public facilities, I have not been to Galeri Melayu Pulau Penang but have visited the Lenggong Valley Archaeological Gallery in Perak and Sungai Batu archaeological site in Kedah several times. 

Fourth from right: Universiti Sains Malaysia Professor Datuk Dr Mokhtar Saidin sharing with travel agents how archaeotourism can be a niche product for special interest groups and students during my recent trip this year  

I was back in February to Sungai Batu for a most enlightening update as part of a fam trip organised by the Malaysian Association of Travel and Tour Agents (MATTA) Kedah/Perlis Chapter, thanks to the invitation from its chairman Mohd Yusin.

During this fam trip, we also visited Kompleks Rumah Kelahiran Mahathir Mohamad, which comes under one of the ANM’s 12 public facilities that also include memorials and galleries. This house features the birthplace of Tun Dr Mahathir, Malaysia’s fourth and seventh prime minister (PM).

All three Kompleks Kraf in Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Langkawi under Kraftangan Malaysia will be closed until 30 April. Visited Langkawi’s Kompleks Kraf last October under Xplorasi Media @ Langkawi 2019 fam trip where we did some batik painting.

The last time I was at MATIC, a popular venue for tourists, was for MATTA’s Visit Malaysia 2020 (VM2020) bus sticker launch on 3 January. 
  
Well, following the Movement Control Order announcement by PM Muhyiddin Yassin on 18 March, the new minister Nancy took the immediate pre-emptive action to cancel the VM2020 campaign, which the ministry’s marketing arm Tourism Malaysia has been aggressively promoting despite having to contend with the havoc COVID-19 was creating after the first case of this virus was reported on 25 January in Sungai Buloh, Selangor.