Bintulu never declared as shipping transportation hub – deputy minister

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KOTA KINABALU: Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Rahim Bakri disclosed that Bintulu was never specifically declared as a shipping transportation hub for East Malaysia.

“In truth, a port would naturally be visited due to the availability of quantity cargo supplies and containers as well as good and efficient port facilities,” he said in a statement.

“In other words, this depends on market-driven and hinterland economic activitiy.”

The deputy minister was responding to the call by Kota Kinabalu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Michael Lui Yen Sang to relocate the country’s sea transport hub from Bintulu to Sabah.

Rahim also pointed out that Bintulu Port had been a hive of shipping activities due to the LNG (liquefied natural gas) and not because it was declared as a transportation hub.

He added that Sepanggar Port and Kuching Port are both free to be visited by foreign ships and they could also export through their own ports without having to go through Bintulu Port or Klang Port, if there are ships that offer direct services to a foreign destination.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Sabah Manufacturers (FSM) supports the call to relocate the sea transport hub to Sabah as it is in line with FSM’s wish to make Sabah as the hub for the Far East.

FSM president Datuk Seri Panglima Wong Khen Thau said Lui’s proposal was not a new topic as it was in tandem which what FSM had been calling for all along.

However, he said the sea transport hub in Bintulu could still be maintained while at the same time develop Sabah as a transport hub.

Emphasis should be given to promote Sepanggar port as a transport hub by upgrading the infrastructure and basic facilities to meet international standard to draw in foreign vessels.

When that is achieved, Wong said Sepanggar port would naturally take over the role of Bintulu sea transport hub.

It could also kill two birds with one stone as the cabotage policy would die a natural death, he said.

In an interview here yesterday, Wong stressed that the government and leaders must accept the idea to make Sabah a transport hub for the Far East, and to be committed to materialize the idea.

When Sabah becomes a hub, it will bring in more economic activities and more foreign investors into the State.

Not only the people here would benefit from a Sabah transport hub, but also the region, including countries such as China, Indonesia and Korea as the State is situated in the middle of BIMP-EAGA.

Traditionally, Wong said the role of a transport hub was played by Singapore and Hong Kong, but Sabah could also become one, and our country has an advantage being a neutral nation.

For instance, Wong said China might have issues exporting Halal food directly out of the country to other places and it would be easier to export the Halal goods through Malaysia.

Sabah as a hub for the Far East is a possibility that Sabahans have to believe in, and for the private sector and the government to work hand in hard to make it happen, Wong said.

The cabotage policy, which has long been said to be the cause of the higher cost of doing business and consumer goods in Sabah, could be reversed to our benefit if the Federal Government and shipping companies were willing to play their roles, he said.

He said a good government must consult the people.

“Ideas must come from the people and the industries from the ground,” Wong said.

He pointed out that the best knowledge lays at grassroots level, and the government should consult, for example,  FSM and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to gain their views on issues.

“If civil servants gather information based on research from World Bank, universities, or institutes of higher learning … a lot of ideas are based on books and are not tested.

“Policies may look good on paper, people can write good theories, but how much percentage you learn in universities are applicable in real life?”