Cabinet Decision Awaited

Rais: Further action will depend on govt decision
BY FLORENCE A. SAMY

PETALING JAYA: Experts will be invited to discuss the issue of the lost city which is purportedly in Johor after the Cabinet makes a decision on the matter.

“I can’t say yet when we’ll be meeting them but we’ll be informing them of the Government’s decision and the next course of action,” said Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

He said a preliminary report on the 1,000-year-old lost city would be submitted to the Cabinet on Wednesday.

The Cabinet needed to discuss the report by the Department of Museums and Antiquities before any further action was taken, he told The Star.

“We must regard the whole issue with utmost care as it’s a national heritage,” he said.

Dr Rais added that an expedition to the site would only be mounted once the Government made a decision.

Dr Rais had said on Feb 4 the Government was giving top priority to the search for the city, which independent researcher Raimy Che-Ross said was Kota Gelanggi, and would provide the funds for it.