KUCHING: Parti Bangsa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) welcome the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to scrap the cabotage policy for Sabah and Sarawak as well as Labuan, effective 1 June this year.
“It is good that the cabotage policy is going to be scrapped because it will save the freight charges,” its president Cobbold John Lusoi said yesterday.
When asked to comment on the matter at a press conference here yesterday, Cobbold said,”Instead of going to Kuala Lumpur and Port Klang, ships will sail direct to Kuching. So this will save a lot of cost and hopefully, it will reduce the prices for consumers because we Sarawakians rely a lot on imports, especially the imports of foods from China and elsewhere.”
“This cabotage policy has been around for so many years since the eighties, and people have been fighting for it to be abolished,” he added.
Asked if is it an indication that the Prime Minister is under pressure as the parliamentary election is around the corner, Cobbold said the Prime Minister was not really under pressure but he was just looking for suitable time to announce it.
“Of course, it is also because of the election,” he said.
On what he think of DAP’s objection to the abolishment of the cabotage policy, Cobbold said he was not sure, but it must have a reason.
He said the abolishment of the cabotage policy should be good.
The cabotage policy, which is a shipping policy introduced in the 80’s had been blamed for the high costs of goods in East Malaysia.
The policy was introduced to promote Port Klang as the nation’s main transshipment hub as it would require goods from outside the country to go through the port before being shipped to East Malaysia.
The 30-year-old policy limits the shipment of goods from the peninsula to Sabah and Sarawak to only Malaysian-flagged ships.
Najib recently announced that the exemption of the cabotage policy for Sabah and Sarawak as well as Labuan would start from 1 June.
