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26th April, 2007
SANDAKAN: The Western Australian government will try to encourage airline operators to establish direct air link from Perth to Kota Kinabalu.
Its premier, Alan J. Carpenter told reporters after witnessing the Anzac Day gathering at the memorial site at Taman Rimba near here yesterday that presently, there are no direct flights from Perth to the State capital.
“More people will come here for holidays, tourism and also explore business opportunities (once the direct links are established),” he said.
Alan also said that there were students from Sabah studying in Western Australia.
“Each year, we have about 1,000 students from here (Sabah). Their families also visit them there,” he said.
In addition, there are also those from Sabah who own properties in Australia, he said.
“That relationship, friendship and partnership will be better facilitated if there are direct air links between our two communities,” he said.
As for the Anzac Day celebration here, Alan said that there were still a lot of Australians who do not know about it.
“We will tell them…it is very important and more people should be made aware of the story of Sandakan,” he said.
He added that he would like to see more people from Western Australia coming to Sandakan each year for the ceremony, or just to see Sandakan and the State.
“This place is beautiful, the people are friendly. It is a very friendly part of the world and everyone should experience the hospitality and friendship of the Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu and Sabah folks, generally,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lorraine and Bob Dunkling of Rockingham, Western Australia commented on the event and said that it was good to know that both countries were together in times of crisis.
Bob also said his father was in Sabah at the end of the war and that the latter had brought back many snapshots of places.
He added that before coming here, he read a book on the memorial site and saw a documentary.
“It must have been pretty terrible times,” he said.
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