Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) President Tan Sri TC Goh said the association is willing to undertake the setting up of the Chinese Heritage Museum in the State.

"We believe it will not only benefit the Chinese community in the State but also the entire State, as besides restoring and preserving Sabah history, the Chinese culture and traditions, a Chinese Heritage Museum has great potential to become yet another major tourism attraction for Sabah," he said in a statement on Wednesday, 3 January.

"This will essentially create more job opportunities for the people of Sabah across the board, besides boosting the State's revenue.

"In addition, it will also lead to further enhancement of the existing long-established Sino-Malaysian relations through historical and cultural exchange programmes between Sabah and China, subsequently."

Goh said this while welcoming the call by Kapayan Assemblyman Dr Edwin Bosi urging the Government to turn the burned-down old building next to Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (HSBC) here, where the historical transfer of the colony from the North Borneo Chartered Company to the Crown took place in 1946, into a Chinese Heritage Museum.

In a statement on Monday, Bosi said a museum for the Sabah Chinese community will go a long way to recognise them for their contributions to the development and wellbeing of the State.

He was also confident that the museum will be a big hit among Malaysians, especially Sabahans and the thousands of visitors from all over the world, especially from China and Taiwan.

Goh believed Sabah has plenty of interesting and colourful historical tales on the diaspora of Chinese immigrants, who are later known as the overseas Chinese that are still waiting to be told or need to be better presented to the world.