If Pangkor is declared a duty-free island, it will certainly boost local economic growth besides spurring development, breathing life into the resort island boasting a population at 25,000.

Following the collapse of the BN government in Perak and the federal government after the 14th general election, all hope on transforming the island, inhabited mostly by people dependent on sea produce, has dimmed.

However, the average locals hope the new Perak government under Pakatan Harapan leader, Ahmad Faizal Azumu, will continue to renew or rebrand the island, as well as prove the new government’s concern in safeguarding the welfare of the people.

A resort operator in Pasir Bogak, Asmadi Teh, 55, who hails from Kampung Teluk Gedung, said Pangkor needed to be injected with change to ensure that it continued to be the choice of tourists.

It was also necessary to upgrade the existing infrastructure and facilities, he said.

"The island will be bustling with tourists, especially during school holidays and weekends, but the situation is different, rather ‘quiet’ on normal days.

“So, we are hoping that Pangkor will be given duty-free island status, thereby redefining the tourism sector as well as socioeconomic activities which are almost on par with other duty-free islands such as Pulau Langkawi,” he told Bernama recently.

The announcement of Pangkor Island’s duty-free status was made at the tabling of Budget 2018 in October last year.

A trader of marine products, Chan Eng Hoo, 48, from Kampung Sungai Pinang, said the state government should intensify tourism promotion in Pangkor because in recent years, many local traders had begun to complain that business revenue had declined due to fewer tourists visiting and buying goods on the island.

“This is due to various factors including people who are increasingly cautious about spending, given the current economic situation was still uncertain, even though the GST is zero-rated,” said Chan who has been dealing in marine products for the past 18 years on the island.

Meanwhile, a food stall operator near the Lumut Jetty, Mohd Salleh Ismail, 42, hopes Pangkor will be declared duty-free, which to some extent will help rebuild Lumut.

“Our presence in the Lumut jetty area, is of course, to seek economic opportunity and we hope business conditions will improve in the future because the atmosphere here is quite gloomy due to lesser visitors over the past two, three years,” he said.

Tourists, Abd Karim Wahidun, 29, from Klang, and R Darmindren, 33 from Batu Caves, Selangor, believe that if Pangkor becomes duty-free, it will definitely excel as a tourist destination because the island is synonymous with 'budget travel', what with the distance between Pangkor and Kuala Lumpur still considered near.

- Bernama