SHAH ALAM: A one-page spread from the minutes of the Selangor State Executive Council meeting in October last year that went viral on WhatsApp today has raised the question whether the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) will be renamed Sepang International Airport (SIA).
In the minutes of the meeting, among others, mentioned the proposed name and it was stated that the suggestion would be brought to the National Transport Council meeting.
Asked to comment on the matter, the state Local Government, Public Transport and New Village Development exco Ng Sze Han when contacted by Berita Harian said the matter was mentioned in the meeting but so far nothing has been decided.
“This matter arises because KLIA is located in Sepang, Selangor. Famous international airports often use local locations as their name, such as Narita and Haneda in Tokyo, Incheon in Seoul, Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok, Baiyun in Guangzhou, Pudong in Shanghai, Schiphol in Amsterdam and so on,” he said, adding that the matter had not been brought to the Transport Ministry for further discussion.
The rebranding proposal was raised by Investment, Industry and Trade and Transport exco Datuk Teng Chang Khim, who stated the need for the airport's name to reflect the location of the airport, during the State Executive Council 31st meeting dated Oct 3, 2018 and was verified by the 32nd meeting dated Oct 18, 2018.
The meeting minutes also mentioned the need for KLIA to be in line with other international airports that use the location as the name of their airports.
The document also stated that Ng had agreed to bring the matter to the National Transport Council meeting.
Meanwhile, Teng when contacted confirmed the matter but refused to comment further.
BH Online today reported that Transport Minister Anthony Loke, when asked about the Selangor government's proposed change of KLIA name to SIA, said it did not receive any formal application on the matter.