TIGHTENED SECURITY FOR KUDAT WATER

VISIT…Hiew and DAP leaders at the Kudat fishing trawlers jetty.

By: DAP MEDIA

SABAH DAP is very concern about the security and safety of the Kudat waters. This was the problem that brought up by fishing boat operators and owners operating in and around the seas off Kudat. There are not less than 500 fishing boats and trawlers working in the sea at Kudat every day and night catching fishes to feed the people and for export.

Recently, the KK MP Hiew King Cheu and the DAP members visited the fishing boats jetties to find out and listen to the request from the fishing boats operators. In general the fishing boats are not happy about the safety and security measures carried out by the government to protect them from the danger of being hijack and robbed by foreign sea bandits and robbers.

Sometimes besides their properties lost and their life are at stack too. The fishing boat that was kidnapped last month while catching fish off the coast of Kudat was not returned till now. Luckily there is no life lost. It is believed that the robbers demanded some ransom before the boat can be released.

The sea off Kudat is a rich fishing ground and it provides a place for earning a living for all the fishermen in Kudat. The fishing industry is also a vital live-line for Kudat.

Therefore the security and safety of the Kudat waters must be ensured to give the fishermen here a peace of mind to carry out their harvest of the fish from the sea, and not having to worry about the sea robbers or kidnappers chasing after them.

There were many cases happened in the past where the fishing boats and trawlers were robbed and hijacked.

Hiew requested the Marine police and the navy to step up their petrol and surveillance over the Kudat water in order to provide a safe working field for our boats and trawlers who usually work 24 hours on sea.

The large area of the sea north of Kudat makes it difficult to petrol and keep watch, Hiew suggests that the Marine police and navy can always use light aircrafts and radar system to keep check on any suspicious boats or ship that appeared in our water. The latest technology by using the Satellite GPS system is proven to be useful too.

The stepping up of the police, custom, navy petrol on sea will also help to cut down all the activities on sea smuggling of goods, people, drugs and even weapons into Sabah. Therefore, we need more security and safety measures to be implemented in our Kudat waters.