Sabah Four Wheel Drive Association representative Alvin Leong (left) presenting Rolly with a memento during a dinner hosted by the Sabah Tourism Board.
KOTA KINABALU: Twenty-four members of the Pajero Sport Family in Indonesia travelled 3,500 km across Borneo as part of their annual long distance touring event.
Accompanied by their family members, they left Pontianak in Indonesia on December 25 2016 and travelled to Brunei Darussalam and Sabah, before ending their expedition in Sibu, Sarawak on January 3.
Expedition leader Rolly Rahardian said they were given very warm welcome by the four-wheel-drive clubs as well as tourism industry players in each of the countries they stopped by.
Speaking to reporters before heading off to Sawarak, Rolly said the expedition spanned three countries in the island of Borneo, namely Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia.
Most of the expedition members, he said, were from Jakarta and expeditions like Borneo Escape 2016 is an annual event.
“We try to travel more than 3,000 km once a year and this year, we decided to tour Borneo and will log about 3,500 km,” he said.
“The welcome we were given by the Brunei Pajero Sport Community, Tutong Four Wheel Drive Association, Kundasang Four by Four Association and the Sabah Four Wheel Drive Association was great.
“We were also very touched with the welcome given by the Sabah Tourism Board and the state Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry as well as the High Commissioner in Brunei Darussalam and the tourism ministry there,” Rolly said.
He said the objective of this event was to strengthen ties between the members of their club as well as those in the three countries.
“We are also promoting tourism for Indonesia and this can be seen through the stickers we have on all our vehicles which are Mitsubishi Pajero Sport,” he said.
Rolly added that the expedition was scheduled to arrive back in Pontianak on January 3 and most would head home for Jakarta on January 4.