State asked to act on cabotage policy

KUCHING: The state government has been asked to act against the cabotage policy, which has been blamed for the high cost of goods and services in Sarawak.

According to Sarawak for Sarawakians ( S4S) leader Peter John Jaban, the cabotage policy is a major problem for Sabah as well.

“When we import goods why do we have to go through Port Klang first and not directly to Sarawak?

“We have so many ports in Sarawak. They are all good ports and we want the state government to do something about it,” he told a press conference yesterday.

The cabotage policy was imposed by the federal government in 1980 in a bid to integrate all Malaysian maritime laws under the Ministry of Transport.

Peter said the cabotage policy will be one of the topics for the ‘Sarawak Rights and Referendum Ordinance’ forum on April 23.

Meanwhile, Peter also called for an update on Native Customary Rights ( NCR) land from Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, who has been given the mandate to look into NCR land issues.

“Two non- governmental organisations ( NGOs) – the Dayak Intellectual Group ( DIG) and Sarawak Dayak Iban Association ( Sadia) – have submitted the memorandum to the Chief Minister and Uggah.

“But until now, Uggah is still quiet. He should update Sarawakians on the latest development. Why does it take so long to update the people?” he questioned.