KOTA KINABALU: The proposal to ban barter trade between Sabah’s east coast communities and southern Philippines residents will have a disastrous impact on Sabah economy, according to Sabah United Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SUCCC) deputy president Lo Su Fui.
He said the barter trade has been carried out for more than a century and banning it would be disastrous to the state’s economy while not being able to solve the security problems plaguing the state.
Lo, who is also Tawau Chinese Chamber of Commerce president, was commenting on the police’s proposal to ban barter trade between the state’s east coast and southern Philippines to curb criminal activities, especially kidnapping which was getting rampant.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has said that the police wanted to propose that both legal and illegal barter trade be stopped as many were capitalizing on the situation while exchanging goods.
Instead, Lo suggested the government appoint non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as SUCCC and local people to Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) so that they could provide accurate intelligence.
He said SUCCC opined that the measures carried out by ESSCom were only targeted at the symptoms of the issue, rather that the root cause.
“They (security agencies) should understand the root of the problem… most of the funding was used to nab illegal immigrants on the mainland.
“We know the local situation and we can provide accurate information so that they (security agencies) can carry out their activities more effectively,” he said after SUCCC executive and supervisory committees meeting here yesterday.
Lo said there was no end to flush out illegal immigrants because there would always be more.
Hence, he proposed ESSCom, chaired by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman, to appoint NGOs like SUCCC into ESSCom so that the latter could provide accurate intelligence.