KUALA LUMPUR – Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong today continued to explain his decision on the cabotage policy exemption for undersea cable repairs by foreign owned vessels.
In a post on his Facebook page today, Wee said he had a dialogue session with tech giants Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Malaysia Internet Exchange to give a clearer picture on the national cabotage policy in his ministry in Putrajaya.
The meeting, attended by the ministry’s top guns including its secretary-general Datuk Isham Ishak and representatives from other ministries and agencies, discussed the cabotage policy, the electronic domestic shipping licence system, (eDSL), and the capability of local vessels to repair undersea cables.
“After much deliberation based on two discussions chaired by myself with the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, the Marine Department, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Telekom Malaysia, TIME dotCom Berhad and the Malaysia Shipowners’ Association (Masa) on September 8 and October 8 respectively, with the power given to the transport minister under Section 65U of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952, I had approved the cancellation of the exemption, gazette through P.U(B)592, taking effect from November 15," said the minister in his post.
“We are clear that this decision was made to protect the interests of the country’s shipping industry and to benefit Malaysians as a whole, especially when the world is facing the Covid-19 pandemic."
In Parliament last week, Wee’s predecessor Anthony Loke had questioned whether the Transport Ministry had made a unilateral decision in cancelling the cabotage exemption policy for foreign ships to repair undersea cables in Malaysia.
The exemption was implemented during Loke’s time as transport minister and enforced in 2019, but Wee had approved to revoke it beginning November 15.
On November 23, The Vibes reported that global tech giants wrote to the prime minister to put a stop to Wee’s decision, which they said would affect the quality of Malaysia’s internet infrastructure.
Microsoft, Google, and Facebook wrote to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in a joint memorandum “to express our urgent concerns” over Wee’s decision over the cancellation of the exemption.
Wee also said in his post that if local vessels cannot carry out the undersea cable repair work, foreign vessels are allowed to do the job.
To facilitate this, the Transport Ministry had set up the eDSL system to simplify the applications for domestic shipping licences allowing foreign vessels to carry out certain activities if Masa confirms that no local vessels can perform the jobs tendered by the foreign vessels.
DSL exemptions can be processed quicker and will directly expedite the undersea cable repair work by foreign vessels, if necessary.
“Before November 1, 2019, the DSL/eDSL process would take up to 30 days, which would surely delay the necessary repair work,” said Wee.
“However, after the eDSL system was improved from November 1, 2019, the application procedure for eDSL was shortened from 30 days to only five working days, given no blockage in the application including for undersea cable repairs.
“This is a proactive move by the ministry to improve the public service delivery system. The process is much faster now with the proper documentation.” – The Vibes, November 25, 2020
