THE Malaysian Army will acquire a big number of military drones to be used by soldiers to carry out daily extensive aerial surveillance along the 1,000km-long Sarawak-Kalimantan mountainous border.
Sarawak First Infantry Division commander Major-General Datuk Khairul Annuar Abdul Aziz said the drones to be acquired will be very sophisticated in nature.
"The drones are high tech and will be effective for use in mountainous and forested regions. These unmanned aerial devices are part of measures to beef up our border security along the Sarawak-Kalimantan boundary.
"The Sarawak government is giving an allocation of RM11 mil to help with the border security enhancement. We are grateful for the cooperation from the state government," he said after having a discussion with state leaders in Kuching.
Sarawak is experiencing a big surge in cross border movement of people and vehicles.
There has been a huge increase in the number of Indonesians coming into Sarawak, especially now that the Indonesian national capital is being relocated from Jakarta to Nusantara in the Kalimantan province on Borneo, adjacent Sarawak.
Some 653,883 visitors from Indonesia, especially from Kalimantan and Jakarta, came to Sarawak in 2024; an increase of 25 per cent from the year before, Sarawak Tourism Board said last month.
"We in Sarawak are seeing big increase in the number of Indonesians coming into Sarawak. The main reasons cited for their visits to Sarawak are for tourism as well as to seek medical treatment.
"We expect to see the number increasing even further and foresee there is tremendous potential for more cross-border movement this year and in years to come.
"We expect medical-tourism to increase, with Sarawak strengthening itself as a key destination for high quality medical and health services," the board said in a press statement.
This is in line with plans for the state to venture into in medical-tourism in a big way through promotions across the ASEAN region.
On Feb 24, it was announced that the state government and several private investors are planning to construct two medical-tourism resorts in southern Sarawak.
Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg had said the state has identified Damai resort in Santubong district and Telok Melano resort in Sematan district as potential sites.
Santubong is about 30km from Kuching city while Sematan is about 100km from Kuching.
"There lies tremendous potential to develop medical-tourism in Kuching as there will be three more private specialists’ hospitals coming up in Kuching. We expect to see surge in the number of tourists from neighboring countries coming to Kuching for health and medical services.
"There is already an increase in such medical-tourists coming from Indonesia. There is also a need to build holiday resorts catering to these medical-tourists so they can stay and recuperate," said Abong Johari when attending a health event in Kuching recently.
The medical-tourism resorts will be managed by private investors, he added, and the land for these resorts will be allotted by the state.
Public amenities at these sites, as well as public transportation facilities will be handled by the government ministries, he said – March 11, 2025
