Front row, Oh (seventh left) hands over the donation to Liang while from third left, Jonathan, Lee, Hwong, Lim, Joseph, Wu and others look on.
KOTA KINABALU: The number of Chinese tourists remaining in Sabah has reduced from a few thousands to between 100 and 200.
Disclosing this yesterday, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Kota Kinabalu, Liang Caide, said there were 2,000 to 3,000 China nationals holding work permits in Sabah and about 700 Chinese students pursuing tertiary education in the State.
However, Sabah Immigration Department director Datuk Muhamad Sade Mohamad Amin yesterday said that there were more than 13,000 Chinese nationals still in Sabah, including tourists and those who entered the State with student visas or work permits.
To this, Liang asserted that the figures the consulate had were 100 to 200 Chinese tourists in Sabah.
He said a large number of Chinese tourists had indeed been stranded in Sabah when the State Government announced the suspension of flights from China.
“But the State Government has taken measures to assist the stranded tourists, including granting visa extension up to seven days and making sure airlines continue to fly so that Chinese tourists could return home.
“As a result, the number of tourists in Sabah has reduced from a few thousands to between 100 and 200.”
Muhamad Sade yesterday said that 15,907 Chinese nationals had entered Sabah as at Jan 31 – when the Sabah government stopped all commercial direct flights from China – and 2,919 had left Sabah between Feb 1 and 10.
However, he said 945 Chinese nationals had entered Sabah via Kuala Lumpur before the state government announced further prohibitions not to allow any foreigners and Malaysians (except Sabahans) with a recent travel history to China to enter Sabah effective Feb 8.
Muhamad Sade added a total of 121 applications for the one-week visa extension were received from China tourists in Sabah as of Feb 11.
The applications were recorded within a period of seven working days from Feb 3.
Liang said the Chinese consulate had been cooperating closely with various state departments, including the Sabah Immigration Department and Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, to facilitate the return of Chinese tourists to China over the past few weeks.
“I would like to thank the various state departments for their assistance,” Liang said this when asked by the media after the handover of donation of RMB250,000, or approximately RM150,000, by the Ma-Zhong Friendship Association Sabah for China’s effort to combat the 2019 novel coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak here yesterday.
He hoped that the State Government would revise its policies, mainly the suspension of flights from China and restricting Chinese nationals from entering Sabah, when the coronavirus outbreak subsided.
“I am confident that many Chinese tourists will return to Sabah after the outbreak.”
Liang said that Chinese tourists who had been granted the seven-day extension for their visas would have to leave Sabah before their visas expired.
“At the moment, the State Government has not informed us whether Chinese nationals would be allowed to stay on after the seven-day visa extension.
“The Sabah Government is the authority to decide whether special circumstances would apply for those who want to stay beyond the seven-day extension.”
On the number of China nationals holding work permits in Sabah, Liang said there were about 2,000 to 3,000 of them in the State but many of them had returned to China during the Chinese New Year.
“According to the Sabah Government’s policy, work permit holders, except from the provinces of Hubei, Jiangsu and Zhejiang where the coronavirus outbreak is serious, can still return to Sabah.”
Additionally, he said about 700 Chinese students were pursuing their tertiary education in the State, mostly in Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
On another note, Liang said donations had poured in from Sabah since the coronavirus outbreak in China.
“What we stress on is not the amount of donation, but the good intent behind the contributions, which is invaluable.
“Some people may donate RM100,000 and some RM1,000 and to us, the donations are equally important, and we shall remember their good intent.”
Meanwhile, Ma-Zhong Friendship Association Sabah president Dr Oh Ei Sun said the association decided to set up a donation account a week ago in response to the call by the Returned Overseas Chinese Federation of China (Qiaolian) for monetary and material donations in combating the COVID-19 outbreak.
He said all monetary donations would be fully remitted to the account of “Overseas Chinese Charity Foundation” under Qiaolian, for special use according to the needs of epidemic prevention and control.
“Today’s handover of Renminbi 250,000 is a sure sign of Sabahans’ solidarity with China during these difficult times, and the continued cooperation between Sabah and China will certainly flourish beyond the current challenges,” he said.
Also present at the handover ceremony were Vice Consul General Wu Xiaoqing, Tan Sri Paul Lim, Tan Sri Joseph Lo, Datuk Jonathan Lo, Datuk James Hwong, Datuk Clement Yeh and Lee Thien Loi.