DAP: More hassle, no benefit in Pangkor’s duty free status

PETALING JAYA: What is the point of declaring Pangkor island duty free when the three items which could draw people to either visit or work on the island are still subject to tax, asks DAP deputy secretary-general Ngeh Koo Ham.

The Beruas MP said this in response to Prime Minister Najib Razak Budget 2018 announcement yesterday that Pangkor will be made a duty free island from 2018 but alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and vehicles will still be taxed.

This is unlike the case in two other duty free islands, namely Langkawi and Labuan, where visitors get to enjoy cigarettes and alcoholic beverages duty free and are also able to bring one carton of cigarettes and one litre of alcoholic beverage after a minimum of three days staying on the island.

“Aside from the lack of benefit that this new ‘duty free’ rule will bring to Pangkor, what is worse is the trouble and inconvenience that will be caused by having all persons leaving Pangkor checked by the customs department,” Ngeh said in a statement today.

The Sitiawan assemblyman also questioned if the Perak government had weighed the pros and cons of declaring the island duty free.

“It will incur additional costs of building customs posts and having personnel manning them.

“The present freedom of entering and leaving Pangkor from any part of the island will be no more.

“Also, all activities involving boats and vessels on the Iisland will have to be highly regulated to avoid smuggling, and this pose great inconvenience to the fishermen operating fishing vessels on the island,” Ngeh said.

He added that it would be better if all goods sold in Pangkor was just subjected to normal taxes, except the goods and services tax (GST).

“Better to declare Pangkor GST free than to declare it duty free.”

“It would help boost the economy of Pangkor without the burden of enforcement against smuggling as there will be none,” he said.

He also hoped that the condition imposed on other duty free areas, where visitors need to stay for 72 hours or more before being entitled to take duty free goods out of the island, will not apply to Pangkor. -FMT