A view of Fort Margherita where the Brooke Gallery is housed. Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING: Serembu assemblyman Miro Simuh has urged the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture to develop the Brooke Heritage Bung Muan centre in his constituency next year.
The Gabungan Parti Sarawak lawmaker said the centre would be important for the tourism industry because it currently does not meet the standards and specifications as a proper tourism product.
“Despite lacking in several things, the Brooke Heritage site and the Wallace Trail received a lot of visitors from time to time, particularly among avid hikers and jungle trekkers,” he said when debating the 2020 State Budget today.
Bung Muan is the site of the White Rajah James Brooke’s mountain retreat, while the trail was named after the renowned anthropologist and explorer Sir Alfred Russell Wallace who had studied the flora and fauna in the area.
Meanwhile, Miro proposed the setting up of a Sarawak Media Council and Sarawak Media Institute to curb the spread of fake news by upholding mainstream and proper agencies.
He said with the advancement of social media today, a lot of inaccurate unregulated news and information were being spread online.
“As of late, the wave of unregulated social media journalism is threatening the contemporary media, confusing the people with a lot of misinformation.
“As such we should set up a mechanism to regulate and keep in check the flow of social media news,” Miro said.
Apart from that, the proposed Media Council and Institute would also act as a bridge between the state government and its agencies, and media organisations, he said.