Sabah should build load required for shipping industry – Darell

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah should push for more industrialization, downstream activities and hightech investments to build the load required for the shipping industry here, said Penampang member of parliament Datuk Darell Leiking.

Leiking, who is also the former minister of international trade and industry, said the investment by South Korean conglomerate, SK Group, to build a manufacturing factory for copper foil in Sabah was a high-tech investment needed to increase the shipping load from Sabah.

“The only problem in Sabah was that there was no drive by any government. There was, but many people didn’t quite grasp it,” he said during a webinar on ‘The Malaysian Cabotage Policy: Addressing the Concern of Sabahans’ organized by Wisdom Foundation here on Monday.

He said the previous state cabinet led by ex-chief minister Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal and the former state minister of trade and industry Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau had been working on developing a gas industry in Sabah, which would have created downstream activities that enabled shipping companies to turn Sabah into a hub.

He said the shipping industry should also consider shared vessel where goods bound for different destinations were loaded onto one vessel, while Sabah built its downstream industries.

On another note, Leiking said the Federal Government should subsidize Sabah with industries and investments as well as give Sabah the right to decide on shipping licence to repay the State on losses caused by the cabotage policy throughout the years.

He said Sabah, with its proximity to Indochina and position in the Brunei-Indonesia Malaysia-Philippines East A sean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) region, should be given the decentralized power to decide on shipping lane and shipping businesses.