Kelantan government official suggests monsoon season could be tourist attraction with activities like surfing

Kelantan is currently the state most severely affected by floods in Malaysia.

Matthias Ang

December 02, 2024, 02:29 PM

A Kelantan state government official has come under fire for suggesting that the monsoon season, which has caused floods in the state, be turned into a tourist attraction.

The Malaysian state's tourism, culture, arts and heritage committee chairman Kamarudin Md Noor was quoted by Malaysian media as saying that Kelantan should look at promoting activities such as surfing during the monsoon season.

Other activities include food that is "traditionally" eaten during the monsoon.

He added that the state seems to be "deserted" during the monsoon season as there is a lack of tourists.

Kelantan is Malaysia's worst-hit state by floods

Kamarudin was subsequently slammed online by Malaysians for insensitivity, with many saying the impact of the current flooding was the more pressing issue.

A number of them seemed to assume he was talking directly about the floods.

One such Malaysian was the secretary-general of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, who said he could not agree with Kamarudin's statement to turn floods into a "tourism product" in a Nov. 28 Facebook post.

He noted that a man had just lost his life and called for the official to focus on tourism at another time.

At least one user questioned Asyraf's understanding of Kamarudin's statement in the comments however, noting that Kamarudin had used the term monsoon instead of floods.

The user added that the official was making a suggestion about surfing the monsoon's waves at the beach, not playing in floodwaters.

Kelantan is currently the worst-hit state in Malaysia by the floods.

At least eight of its rivers have overflowed.

The state's police chief has also described the floods as the worst in history, according to The Star.

According to The Malay Mail, Kelantan has 86,163 evacuees who are living in 252 temporary shelters.

Five people have also died from the floods in the state.

In total, more than 136,000 people have been displaced across Malaysia while the total death toll stands at seven, according to Bloomberg.