Wan Abdul (third left) chairing the Tourist Jetty and Other Security Aspects of Maritime Tourism Boats Coordination meeting yesterday in Semporna.
SEMPORNA: Tourist boat operators in Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) must have a good communication system when their boats are at sea to bring tourists to resorts, or to the islands for diving, snorkelling, and island hopping.
These are among the security measures that were decided during the Tourist Jetty and Other Security Aspects of Maritime Tourism Boats Coordination meeting held at the Semporna District Council.
Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) commander DCP Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid said this was very important and should be noted by all tour operators so that immediate action could be taken in the event of something untoward happening to their boats, such as kidnapping and boat capsize incidents.
He said the security of passengers as well as immediate appropriate actions by the authorities to send rescue teams depended on the tour operators to inform of the incident to the security forces.
“If they (operators) are slow to report an incident to the security forces, we will not be able to send a rescue team as soon as possible as required to provide emergency assistance,” he said while chairing the meeting yesterday.
In addition, he said ESSCom would provide a complete guideline containing safety measures that must be implemented by all tourist operating centres, including certain safety procedures that needed to be installed in tourism boats in order to maximize the safety of tour boats operating in ESSZone.
He said ESSCom, in collaboration with all the security forces in ESSZone, had taken the necessary measures including placing several teams of security forces at strategic locations such as tourism centres and in areas that are the focus of the public, including foreign tourists.
Meanwhile, Wan Abdul Bari reiterated that all boats plying in ESSZone area should install the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and VHF Radio Channel 16 to facilitate the effort of all security agencies in tracking the location of boats and providing emergency assistance in case of any mishap.
“The AIS system will give a warning signal immediately to the security forces in the event of (any) untoward things happening to the boat and the Channel 16 VHF will also facilitate tour boats to contact the security forces for rescue action,” he said.
In addition, he said each tour boat must get clearance from the authorities such as the Department of Ports and Harbours, marine police, Marine Department and Sabah Parks at tourist jetties to ensure that the safety of tourists would always be controlled and protected from boarding boats that were operating illegally with dubious safety and security system, and at the same time guaranteed the safety of passengers during the trip to resorts.
“We need to learn from the several boat capsize incidents that had happened in this country, that the majority of the boats had no AIS and VHF Radio communication systems, which hampered rescue efforts because of the difficulties of rescuers to locate the capsized boat,” he said.
Meanwhile, ESSCom Operation Centre Chief of Staff Brig. Gen Datuk Md. Rahim Hj. Mohamad said statistics detected with AIS and Channel 16 was still low in ESSZone and their level of awareness and sensitivity to threats and safety among operators needed to be improved so that something untoward could be contained.
Md. Rahim urged all parties to cooperate and immediately report to ESSCom online at 089-863181 if they notice individuals or certain boats that are unnown to them, for further action including making spot checks to avoid any incidence of kidnappings from happening.
Also present were ESSCom Operation Center Chief of Staff (Pusop) Brig. Gen. Datuk Md. Rahim Hj. Mohamad, ESSCom Land Operation Chief of Staff SAC Zulkifli Hj. Salleh, ESSCom Maritime Enforcement Chief of Staff Admiral Kamaruszaman Abu Hassan and ESSCom Director of Public Action Rohiman Rahia.