Friday 23 March 2012

SCRAP CABOTAGE POLICY NOW



“THE Sabah and Sarawak State Governments should get the Federal Government to immediately scrap the Cabotage Policy” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, the STAR Sabah Chief in response to the calls by Sabah BN components for the federal government to suspend or review the cabotage policy.

It defies logic that the BN components can only voice their frustrations in the media on the cabotage policy. If being part of the BN federal government and the BN parties in Sabah and Sarawak are powerless to secure the scrapping of the cabotage policy, there is no further reason for them to remain in the Barisan Nasional.

In Sabah, the unfair and unjust cabotage policy has ruined the economy and caused untold and unquantifiable damage and loss to the people.

The end result is loss of competitiveness with massive loss of investments, loss of job opportunities and resulting loss of human capital development and burdensome higher costs for the ordinary people who are already poorer than their Peninsular counterparts.

Even the state-wide Federation of Sabah Manufacturers (FSM) has for years called for the abolishment of the cabotage policy yet the Chief Minister and the state government have failed to take any concrete steps to get the federal government to scrap it.

“You don’t know whether to laugh or cry when you see that the BN local components are starting to voice their opinions on the cabotage when it is a long known fact even to the ordinary people in the street that it should be abolished” added Dr. Jeffrey.

Perhaps, it may be due to the general elections being around the corner that these politicians are sweet-talking to garner votes for themselves lest they will be out of jobs after the elections.

In UBF and at STAR, Agenda No. 4 of the Borneo Agenda seeks the abolishment of the cabotage policy and other unfair and lop-sided policies which hinder the development and growth of the Borneo States.

Ironically, the Chief Minister and his Deputies have accused the opposition of telling lies and making unfulfillable promises.

If Borneo Agenda No. 4 is a lie and cannot be fulfilled and is of no good to the people in Sabah, why are the BN components, the FSM and others calling for the scrapping of the cabotage policy?

Obviously, the Sabah BN is now left with red faces over the recent developments and repeated calls for the cabotage policy to be scrapped.

Several days ago the Chief Minister has asked his Umno leaders to go more often on the ground.

We would like to advise the Chief Minister to tell his Umno leaders when they go on the ground, to remember to tell the people to support Borneo Agenda No. 4 particularly so that the Umno leaders can report back to the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister and his Cabinet can then formally request the federal government to scrap the cabotage policy since it is what Sabahans want but which, unfortunately, the Chief Minister and his Cabinet have done nothing since they still do not know.

The unfair cabotage policy highlights the dilemma of the general adoption of a single 'one policy fits all' mentality of the federal government. All policies should be reviewed and if required, to be modified or adapted, to suit the circumstances in Sabah and Sarawak.

This is why the '1-Country 2-System' administration should be adopted in the administration of the Borneo States. STAR Sabah will propose the adoption of the '1-Country 2-System' administration in Sabah.

If the present Sabah BN government truly cares for the welfare of the people in Sabah, they should immediately adopt the '1-Country 2-System' administration starting with the scrapping of the cabotage policy.

On the same footing, the Sabah BN MPs should immediately table a motion in Parliament to pass the necessary amendments to the shipping laws to scrap the cabotage policy. There is no reason for the other Peninsular BN and non-BN MPs not to support such a motion.

If the state government leaders and the Sabah MPs are unable to do both, it can only mean that they are just like the State Speaker in 'no action talk only' mode due to the forthcoming elections and to lap up to their masters to curry favour for themselves.

29 comments:

  1. Cabotage Policy perlu dikaji semula untuk memastikan ia masih relevan untuk dilaksanakan memandangkan ramai yang mahukan ia segera dimansuhkan.

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    1. The Cabotage Policy is needed to re-look into.

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  2. Pairin urges Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha to use his discretionary authority to temporarily suspend the Cabotage Policy in Sabah.

    Cabotage Policy shouldn't meant to suppress the Sabahans. If this policy is not relevant in here, abolish it.

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  3. Star dan SAPP berlumba-lumba untuk menjuarai isu polisi kabotaj..

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  4. diharap kerajaan akan mencari penyelesaian kepada masalah ini..

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  5. The cabotage policy need to be revised. If the cabotage policy brings more disadvantage to the people, then it should be abolished. Don't wait any longer.

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    1. I trust the government knows what are they doing but i do think the government need to listen to the people's voice.

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    2. If that's simple as that, I dont think we should have wait until now.

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  6. Pasti kerajaan akan meneliti semula sabotaj polisi. Keprihatinan kerajaan amat diperlukan dalam hal ini.

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  7. kaji semua dasar ini, pastikan ia tidak membebankan rakyat. lagipun ramai yng inginkan ia dimansuhkan.

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  8. Minister of Transport, Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha has denied giving inaccurate information to the people in Sabah regarding the Cabotage policy.

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    1. In a statement, he said he understood the needs of Sabah people and the government had wanted a win-win situation for all stakeholders, particularly the people in Sabah.

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  9. The minister added that the increase in prices of goods in Sabah said to be a result of the Cabotage policy is not true as there are other factors that contribute to the rising prices and among them are storage costs and the cost of port services.

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    1. The Ministry of Transport has also denied the accusation that the Cabotage policy does not allow foreign ships to call at Sabah ports after unloading containers at the Peninsular port.

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    2. According to the Cabotage policy does not prevent foreign ships from making direct call at any port in Malaysia from any port in the world. This means that after calling at Port Klang, the same ship can visit Sabah to unload and upload cargo before continuing its international destinations.

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    3. The claim that only certain shipping companies are allowed to transport transit containers between Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia is also untrue as the Ministry of Transport never gave special permission or specified only certain shipping companies could provide container services in Malaysia.

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    4. Apart from that, the government had already liberalised the Cabotage policy for the transportation of containerised transhipment cargo between Port Kelang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas and Sepangar Port on June 3, 2009. This means that foreign ships are free to transport transit containers from main vessels that berth in Peninsular direct to Sabah.

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    5. In conclusion, any decision to import or export a container direct to or from Sabah is an independent business decision made by shipping company concerned. It has no direct connection with any policy or limitation set by the government.

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    6. Importers and exporters are also free to choose any shipping service made available to them by any shipping company.

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    7. There are several factors that shipping companies have to consider before deciding to make any port of call, such as quantity of cargo, total costs involved, delivery destinations and others.

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  10. The Ministry of Transport has given information, clarification and feedback regarding this issue at forums organised in Sabah involving business associations, stakeholders including the Federation of Sabah Manufacturers.

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  11. Masih dalam perbincangan lagi mengenai pembatalan dasar kabotaj ini. Yang pasti kerajaan akan mencari penyelesaian yang terbaik untuk perkara ini.

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  12. Mungkin juga dasar ini tidak perlu dibatalkan namun cuba perlu dikaji sebaiknya untuk mencari penyelesaian yang terbaik.

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  13. jangan pula selepas dimansuhkan, timbul suara2 sumbang kononnya kerajaan gagal menjaga kepentingan local shipping dan terlalu bergantung dengan kapal asing..

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  14. terdapat banyak punca kenapa harga barang di negeri ini lebih tinggi berbanding dengan negeri2 di semenanjung.. namun malangnya semua punca2 itu tidak dipandang langsung oleh pemimpin2 pembangkang melainkan menuding jari terhadap cabotage policy..

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