KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 ― Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim today urged Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to intervene and overturn Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong’s decision to revoke the exemption of the cabotage policy on undersea cable repairs.
He asserted that Wee’s decision to bring back cabotage has caused Malaysia to be excluded from the Apricot project by Facebook and Google, losing out on potential high tech investment opportunities worth up to RM15 billion.
Sim said that Wee’s continued denial of the impact from his decision runs contrary to a parliamentary reply he had received from the Ministry of Multimedia and Communications, who said that the selection of countries participating in the undersea Apricot internet cable installation plan is the decision of Facebook and Google companies due to the unresolved cabotage policy exemption issue.
“Such an attitude by the Transport Minister is harmful and detrimental to our Malaysian economy and the Malaysian people in general. Instead of acknowledging weaknesses and rectifying them, Wee stubbornly holds on to his harmful and wrong decision.
“As a result of Wee’s stubbornness, he caused Malaysia to be continually excluded from a project which the Minister of Communication and Multimedia deemed as ‘sangat diperlukan’ (much needed), and ‘elemen penting’ (important element),” he said in a statement.
The cabotage row began when Wee, in November 2020, revoked the exemption made by his Pakatan Harapan predecessor Anthony Loke.
Shortly after the revocation, Datuk Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff who was the then chairman of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC), issued a public statement criticising the exemption reversal.
In April, Facebook and Google revealed they would lay two huge subsea cables that will link the US West Coast to Singapore and Indonesia, South-east Asia’s biggest economy and home to a growing number of smartphone users, bypassing Malaysia.
Rais resigned from MDEC two days ago, following his remarks likening Wee to a “minister with an IQ of a cabbage” on social media.
