DAP questions govt’s sincerity on Cabotage exemption

KOTA KINABALU: DAP Sandakan member of parliament Stephen Wong yesterday criticized the federal government for its failure to show sincerity and willingness to exempt Sabah and Sarawak from the Cabotage policy.

Despite Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's announcement on May 17 in Sandakan that the Cabotage policy will be exempted between the ports of Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, Wong said the Merchant Shipping Act 1952 (Amendment) which was recently passed in the House of Commons Parliament did not touch on the exemption of Cabotage policy for Sabah and Sarawak.

He had taken part in the debate for this Bill amendment in Parliament on Wednesday.

Wong stressed that the Cabotage policy had restricted Sabah's development and forced a higher cost of living in Sabah compared to Peninsular Malaysia, adding that it must be abolished so Sabah could truly benefit from free and liberated market and sea trade.

“According to the Bill under Section 68 (s), ‘No ship other than a registered Malaysian ship may engage in domestic shipping'. This was not amended and remains effective. This shows that the whole bill did not serve the purpose of exempting or abolishing the Cabotage policy for Sabahans,” he explained.

Wong added that he was disappointed when he failed to read any written laws on the exemption of Cabotage policy in the said Bill amendment.

He also noted that even though the Transport Ministry had replied to his question earlier and pointed out that a minister could be empowered under a separate section to exempt foreign ships to enter Malaysian waters for domestic shipping, he opined that the liberalisation policy for Sabah should be safeguarded and written into law for the long term.

Aside from that, Wong said regarding Section 68 (u) and (v) which empowers a minister to decide if foreign vessels can offer service in domestic shipping, he suggested that this power should not be decided by a federal minister alone and was of the view that since Sabah has a unique position in terms of equal partnership and geography, the state government should therefore have a say on domestic shipping.

He also questioned why such an important announcement by the Prime Minister was not determined in law and described the Bill amendment as a political gimmick to woo Sabahans for votes instead of being a sincere effort to help Sabah resolve the problem of high cost of living.

Wong also touched on the matter of Sabah's territorial waters rights, opining that 200 nautical miles of Sabah's territorial waters should not be controlled by the federal government and it should be returned to the Sabah state government according to the IGC report and Malaysia Agreement 1963.

He reiterated that when Malaysia's state of emergency was lifted in 2011, it became illegal for the federal government to control Sabah's territorial waters up to 200 nautical miles, therefore, when Parliament wants to decide on merchant shipping for federal waters, especially for licensing of ships, it should be upheld that Sabah retained control over her waters.

Wong also urged the government to respect Malaysia's federation system and to reform it so Sabah could truly benefit from fair and equal power as well as sharing of resources.

He added that DAP will certainly continue its struggle for a "New Deal and New Federalism" and to bring real change for Sabah and Malaysia.