Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen urged the state authority to use the enactment effectively by granting the permit for the use of personal watercraft only to those who were eligible.
“Come out with guidelines for these operators to comply with, for instance, a well-trained instructor and security measures, before granting them the permit.
“The state government also has the power to arrest, search and seize any illegal beach activity as it is an offence for those who contravene any provision of this enactment,” she told a press conference at the Penang International Airport yesterday.
■ Firm action: Dr Ng showing Penang hotel representatives the Personal Watercraft (Penang) Enactment 1999 yesterday.Dr Ng said the issuance of water sport activity permit came under the purview of the state government as the Tourism Ministry was only responsible for issuing licences for tour operators, tourist guides and tour buses.
“Tourism is a very fragile industry so I am pleading to the state authority to take immediate action and place enforcement officers along the beach to monitor the situation,” she said.
She said the Penang police would hold a meeting with all agencies involved today to study a long term solution against beach touts.
Dr Ng was commenting on reports of unruly beach touts who allegedly endangered hotel guests’ safety and harassed them to take up the beach activities.
“We have a total of 5.4 million tourists visiting Penang in 2009 and of those, 1.2 million of them visited Batu Ferringhi.
“Among them, 600,000 tourists visited the Batu Ferringhi beach, so this is a very serious matter,” she said.
About 70 unlicensed operators offered beach-related activities — buggy rides, horse riding, para-sailing and water scootering — along the 3km-long stretch (behind Golden Sands Resort and Parkroyal Penang) to both local and foreign tourists.
Penang police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob, who was also present at the press conference, said police would be monitoring the area on a daily basis to make sure there were no unlicensed traders and beach activity operators along the beach.
When contacted, state Local Government and Traffic Manage-ment Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) had to demarcate the zone first for beach operators to run their business before using the enactment.
“We don’t want to go after them because they are there to make a living. It was an attitude issue when they started harassing and intimidating the hotel guests,” said Chow.
A joint operation by state and federal agencies, codenamed Ops Sepadu, will be taking place today to put a stop to the illegal activities which have been marring the image of the famous stretch for decades.
The operation will be led by the police and targeted to clear the stretch of DVD and counterfeit goods stalls, unlicensed entertainment and eatery joints as well as unauthorised water sport activities.
Among the agencies involved in the operation are MPPP, Customs Department, Immigration Depart-ment, Anti Drug Agency and Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry.
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