The Sabah government has taken over from Sabah Parks and imposed a temporary freeze on applications for new resorts in the state following the April 2 kidnapping of two women off Semporna.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Majnun said that the freeze is pending new regulations that will allow Sabah Parks to have monitoring power.

“(This will) ensure (Sabah Parks) makes good decisions based on security and utilisation of land,” Masidi is quoted as saying by New Straits Times today.

He also said Sabah has stopped issuing licences for boat operators and was reviewing the licences of holiday resorts, especially those hiring foreign workers.

All coastal resorts are to submit their lists of workers to the state for background checks and they must comply with regulations on the hiring of foreign workers within one month.

Sabah police: The women are safe

Armed men on April 2 kidnapped Chinese national Gao Hua Yuan, 29, and Filipino resort worker Marcy Dayawan, 40, from the Singamata Resort off Semporna.

Sabah police chief Hamza Taib (left) said that the women are “safe” and that the kidnappers have made demands in several calls. However, he did not provide details of the demands made.

Last year a Taiwanese tourist was shot dead and his wife kidnapped from a resort on Pom Pom Island, also off Semporna.

The East Sabah Security Command (Esscom) said intelligence indicates the armed men who took Gao and Dayawan were also involved in the Pom Pom Island incident and the Sipadan Island abduction in 2000.