Taiwan warns citizen of travel to Sabah

Taiwan warns citizen of travel to Sabah

KOTA KINABALU - Taiwan Foreign Affairs Ministry (MOFA) has issued a travel advisory, warning its citizens to avoid travelling to Sabah.

According to The China Post, MOFA issued an 'orange warning', on Friday, which is the second-highest on Taiwan's four-colour tourism advisory system, to Sabah.

The warning came immediately after the shooting incident that killed a Taiwanese tourists on Pom Pom Island off Semporna.

It advises Taiwanese nationals to avoid going to the destination and to be on high alert if they have to go.

Sabah travels and tours operators, however, said they have not received official notice from the government to warn operators from booking a reservation to the island and reported that business continued as usual.

Meanwhile, State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun reminded the tourism industry players and tourists in Sabah to keep calm and cooperate with security forces when needed following the murder-cum-kidnapping case on Pom Pom island, Semporna.

"Report to the police immediately if any unknown people that are behaving suspiciously (at resorts in islands).

"Resort owners also need to check and re-check the identity of all their staff working in their premises in islands and get the police to do security screening on them.

"And more importantly, the public should not speculate or spread unfounded rumours," he said when contacted on advice to tourists and tourism players in this State.

In Kuala Lumpur this morning, police said they believed the incident is related to Al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group and that the tourist was kidnapped for ransom.

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