MP: One minister is lying on cabotage, speaker must act

 

Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun has been urged to determine the veracity of seemingly conflicting statements by two cabinet ministers on the nation's cabotage policy.

Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim wrote to Azhar two days ago demanding the errant minister be referred to Parliament's Rights and Privileges Committee for disciplinary action.

"I urge the speaker to determine the truth and subsequently refer the MP who misled the house to the Rights and Privileges Committee under Standing Order 36(12).

"I expect a fair and wise decision from the speaker to preserve the integrity of the Dewan Rakyat," he said in his letter to Azhar.

On Sept 30, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong told Dewan Rakyat that Malaysia's cabotage policy was not the reason why the country was not involved in the Apricot subsea cable project.

However, Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa told the Dewan Rakyat in a written reply on Oct 5 that Facebook and Google "bypassed" Malaysia for the landing of the Apricot project "in view of the unresolved issue concerning the exemption for the cabotage policy".

Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong

Malaysia's cabotage policy gives preference to Malaysian vessels to, among others, perform subsea cable repairs. This regulation was exempted during the Pakatan Harapan administration but reinstated during the Muhyiddin Yassin administration.

Tech giants Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Google have repeatedly lobbied successive Malaysian governments for the exemption since no Malaysian vessel could do the job and an appeal process by foreign vessels will delay critical repairs.

Moreover, government-owned Telekom Malaysia Bhd has an interest in Asean Cableship Ptd Ltd - a Singapore-based joint venture that owns a DP2 class ship capable of carrying out subsea cable maintenance.

Telekom Malaysia is mostly owned by government-controlled funds.

Prior to the Apricot project, Malaysia was also overlooked for the Echo and Bitfrost subsea cable project.

However, Wee has stuck to his position that there can be no blanket exemption in order to build local capacity and reduce foreign currency outflows.

Instead, he said foreign vessels can still apply for exemptions and will be granted rights to repair jobs within 48 hours if no local vessel takes it up. - Mkini