Just recently, we learnt that Georgetown, Penang was declared a ‘Clean City’ by ASEAN. Well, now, we can add another Malaysian city to the list because Muar, Johor has been recently named the cleanest ‘Tourist City’ in ASEAN. Rejoice, Johorians!
Source: Lite
According to The Star, the royal town, formerly known as Bandar Maharani, received the recognition in the 2018 ASEAN Tourism Forum because it had passed all the basic criteria of the ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard 2017.
Source: Facebook
The city was nominated by its state government, but before being awarded, it had to go through an evaluation process whereby it was evaluated based on the cleanliness level of the city and the surrounding areas.
After successfully passing the test, the MCA party whip and Muar’s Municipal Councillor, Chris Lee Ching Yong received a letter from the organising committee confirming that they had indeed received the award. Then, the Yang Dipertua of Muar Municipal Council, Mustaffa Kamal Bin H. Shamsudin and their representatives from the related tourism organisations made their way to Chiang Mai, Thailand to receive the award.
Source: Facebook
According to Chris, Johorians are extremely proud of this recognition. Moreover, this award also recognises the efforts taken by the local government, government agencies, non-governmental organisations, private corporations, and of course, the public. Good on them.
He further explained that the Muar Municipal Council had spent over RM50 million to promote several cleanliness programmes in the state, which includes gotong-royong, support for recycling activities, and preservation of canal, landscape, and rivers. Well, the money was well spent!
Source: Facebook
Chris also believes that the recognition will increase the popularity of the town, thus it will encourage more foreigners to visit Muar and simultaneously boost Muar’s tourism industry.
He added that it is vital for the city’s cleanliness to be preserved so that the tourism industry can continue to grow. Besides that, he said that more efforts will be taken to focus on the beautification of the city and all projects will be implemented as scheduled to boost the city’s tourism industry.
Furthermore, Chris said that all restaurant operators and hawkers were not allowed to use polystyrene anymore and they were instructed to install an oil purification system to avoid pollution. He explained that the authorities will restructure 10 food courts in the city and generate a new theme for the local popular food and products to attract more tourists to the city. Seems like a great effort!
On the other hand, Muar’s famous Tham Chiak Koey (aka glutton street) hawkers association member, Huang Yilei, who was also proud of the awards, hopes that the people of Muar will work hard to maintain the cleanliness of the city.
So, there you have it, Muar is one of the cleanest cities Malaysia too! Let’s hope it stays that way!
Also read: George Town Has Just Been Declared a ‘Clean City’ in ASEAN!
