Mohamad (left) chats with Parti Keadilan Rakyat president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during the dinner.
KUCHING: The Defence Ministry will focus its assets and resources on safeguarding the waters of Sarawak and Sabah against the encroachment of foreign fishing vessels, said its minister Mohamad Sabu.
“We lose about RM6 billion to RM7 billion worth of marine resources annually due to the encroachment of foreign fishing vessels into our waters,” he said at a dinner organised by the state Pakatan Harapan (PH) yesterday.
The Parti Amanah Negara president said the issue of defending the sovereignty of waters was a hot topic discussed among Southeast Asian countries as each member country would want to protect their marine resources from being exploited.
Mohamad, who just came back from a working visit to Turkey, also said the ministry aimed at developing the local defence industry.
“The Turkish government had agreed verbally to assist Malaysia in building the country’s defence industry. We hope that they will bring their expertise to our country’s defence ministry.”
Furthermore, Mohamad pointed out that under the Pakatan Harapan federal government, the rule of law should take priority when it comes to administering the country.
Citing an example, he said that it was agreed that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) must be chaired by the opposition parties to provide a check and balance to the ruling government.
He said that the PAC is a very powerful body as it could summon anyone to be questioned over the management of the country’s finances.
“This is the kind of transparency that the PH government is upholding. We are working hard to present a cleaner government to the people.”
On another matter, Mohamad said that the notice period for a peaceful assembly has been shortened from 10 days to seven days as the right of the people to assemble is enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Before ending his speech, he said that the toxic racial sentiments that are being exploited as political
fodder in Peninsular Malaysia should not be ‘imported’ into Sarawak.