He said there would be more visitors attending this auspicious event not only from within the country but also neighboring countries.

“The Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be officiating the ceremony while Head of State Tun Dr Juhar Mahiruddin will grace the closing ceremony.

“A total of 112 contestants will take part in the competition from Feb 14 until 21, 2020 and of these, 84 will be taking part in memorizing the Quran while 28 for the recital.

“MTHQK is a famous competition since 1960 and there is a possibility that most of the visitors to the event would be from Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia,” he said after the first meeting of a Main Committee of MTHQK at Sabah Administration Centre, here, Friday.

There is a slight difference in organizing this large-scale event where it will involve local communities to attend the event throughout the competition.

“In this competition, we not only bring our souls, mental and hearts closer to the Holy Al-Quran but also provide the Quranic explanations to the community.

“We will involve local communities in selling their goods as well as exhibit small and medium-sized entrepreneurs’ products to attract more people to come and see the MTHQK,” Shafie said, Malaysian newspaper the Daily Express reported.