WELCOME to The Heart Of Asia!

Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Aris Othman, the Chairman of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad holds a Bachelor (Honours) Degree in Analytical Economics from University Malaya, and a Masters Degree in Development Economics from Williams College, Massachusetts. While working for the Economic Planning Unit of the Malaysian Government, he earned another Masters Degree in Political Economy from Boston University and added a PhD in Development Economics at Boston.

After his tenure as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Finance, he moved to The World Bank in Washington as Executive Director of the Southeast Asia Group. Soon afterwards, Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Aris Othman took up his present post as Chairman of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad – a post he describes as “very different but extremely interesting and challenging.” Here he bids Routes delegates a special welcome.

“To see why Malaysia is called ‘the Heart of Asia’, you only have to open up an atlas or check the maps on the Internet. Geographically, Malaysia is in the middle of Asia, with India on one side, China on the other side, and Australia down below. More specifically, Malaysia sits right at the centre .of the ten ASEAN nations of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

“Aviation-wise, Malaysia commands the most strategic air-routes for the region, as well as between Europe and Australasia on one hand, and South Asia and North America on the other. Apart from its flagship international gateway of KLIA, there are five other international airports that route-planners can choose from, and each offers unique advantages for airlines and their passengers. What was well-known by ancient Chinese seafarers, European explorers and Arabian traders is a fact that is being happily re-discovered by astute airlines of the modern world.

“Culturally, Malaysia has the most cosmopolitan population in all of Asia, where most of its people can trace some or all of their ancestry from Indonesia, India, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as parts of Europe and the Middle East. Although Islam is the official religion, Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics, Taoists, Christians, Sikhs, Bahais and other religious adherents practice their faiths freely and avidly in this secular democracy. “Linguistically, besides the national language of Malay, most Malaysians speak English quite well, but every major Asian language can be heard in the cities! For visitors from China and the global Chinese Diaspora, Mandarin is quite widely spoken and Chinese cultural items are quite noticeable in many shopping districts of Malaysia. Local TV channels feature half-a-dozen languages!

Visitors from the Indian sub-continent will find that about 6% of the Malaysian population speaks fluent Tamil, and they might also hear Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Malayalam, Sinhalese and other familiar tongues. Apart from English and Malay, in some parts of Kuala Lumpur, you will find lots of signboards in Chinese, Tamil, Korean, Japanese, Arabic or even Nepali! “Cuisine-wise, Western fast-food joints and restaurant chains proliferate, and apart from the uncountable number of Indian Muslim restaurants and Chinese food-shops across the country, visitors will also find Arab, Thai, Korean and Japanese restaurants quite readily in most major cities of Malaysia. Malay food-shops serve perennial favourites like satay, nasi lemak, fried noodles and rice with curry, competing actively with traditional Hindu banana-leaf restaurants. Vegetarian food is easy to find, while all food at the five-star hotels is Halal. In Malaysia, there is literally something to suite every taste!

“At Malaysia Airports, we believe that as custodians of the nation’s international gateways, the welcome that visitors receive must reflect the multi-cultural hospitality of Malaysia, where peoples of different creeds and colours live in harmony. We make announcements at all our airports in Malay and English, with Arabic, Japanese and Mandarin being used at key airports during specific seasons. The Malaysian airport community itself is one of the most cosmopolitan in the world, speaking over a dozen ‘own’ languages and dialects, and as airport operators we cherish this diversity and affirm it in every way we can.

“Malaysia Airports celebrates the festivals of every major racial and religious group in the ccountry, so you will receive a festive welcome if you come during the various Muslim celebrations, the Chinese Lunar New Year, the cosmopolitan Malaysian Christmas, the Hindu festival of lights called Deepavali, the Kadazan Dusun Harvest Festival and other national and local commemorations. More importantly, this daily interaction between peoples of different cultures, creeds, languages and religious beliefs make Malaysians uniquely able to welcome visitors from all over the world with empathy and efficiency. And this is what we mean when we greet all arrivals at our airports with a heartfelt Selamat Datang! “