Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong has embarrassed the government by shamelessly refusing to respond to DAP Bangi MP and former Deputy Minister Dr Ong Kian Ming on the 5 big lies that Wee made on national television during his debate with me on his cabotage policy on submarine cable repairs on 2 November 2021. Dr Ong had fact-checked Wee’s claims and discovered them to be not only misleading but downright false. Wee did not make the same claims against me on what I said on 2 November.
1) NTT Is NOT The Sole Shareholder And Owner Of The Proposed Apricot Undersea Cable Project.
Wee repeatedly stated that the Japanese telco giant, NTT, is the sole owner of the proposed 12,000 km Apricot undersea submarine cable project that is bypassing Malaysia. Dr Ong had exposed this lie as there are other shareholders in the project including Google, Facebook, PLDT which is the Philippines’ largest telco company, and Chunghwa Telecom, a Taiwanese telco company.
2) Yoshio Sato Is Not The Vice President Of NTT And Has His Own Company.
Yoshio Sato was touted by Wee as instrumental in the Apricot cable project and there is a slide in his presentation which shows Sato as a Vice president of NTT. Sato was only a manager at NTT and not a vice president of NTT. Sato is no longer an employee of NTT because he left NTT to set up his own Singapore-registered company called Orient Link Pte Ltd. Dr Ong stressed that Sato is not with NTT and cannot speak on behalf of NTT’s future investments in the region.
3) Yoshio Sato’s Conflict Of Interest By Being Connected With Lim Soon Foo, The Main Beneficiary Of Wee’s Cabotage Policy Of Submarine Cable Repairs.
Yoshio Sato is the CEO of Orient Link Pte Ltd which is a Singapore-registered company led by NTT Group and established with partners of Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japan’s ICT and Postal Services Inc. (JICT) and WEN Capital Pte. Ltd. (WEN).
In a press statement by the Japan ICT Fund or JICT dated Dec 13, 2019, it was stated that the director of Wen Capital is none other than Lim Soon Foo. Lim Soon Foo is the executive chairman of OMS Group, the only company in Malaysia that claims to have undersea cable submarine repair capabilities and the largest beneficiary of the cabotage policy which Wee reinstated when he became transport minister.
Lim Soon Foo is both a director of Wen Capital Pte Ltd, which is a part shareholder of Sato’s company, Orient Link Pte Ltd, and is also the executive director of OMS Group. As Lim’s company is the main beneficiary of the undersea cable repair cabotage policy, there is a clear conflict of interest on the part of Sato. This is because Sato cannot be speaking independently on his views on the cabotage policy if one of his company’s shareholders is also the main beneficiary of this policy.
4) What is the Intra-Asia Express Cable Project and will it come to Malaysia including Sarawak?
Wee announced a major foreign investment during the debate, the “Intra-Asia Express Cable Project” which Sato is currently consulting on and would connect Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Sarawak, Peninsular Malaysia, and Singapore. Such an announcement during a debate and not done through a proper forum with the foreign investor where all approvals are given does not inspire confidence.
Since Sato is not working with NTT, this cannot be considered to be an official NTT project. It is merely a proposed project out of many undersea cable projects in the region. In addition, Sato clearly says that “I need your big help for this project” to Dr Wee, clearly showing his dependency to rely on Wee’s favours and that Sato is not reliable and independent in his testimony for Wee.
5) The newly purchased Lodbrog ship by OMS Group Does Not Possess DP2 Capabilities Required For Submarine Cable Repairs.
Wee also claims that OMS group recently purchased a ship by the name of Lodbrog which has Dynamic Positioning 2 (DP2) undersea cable repair capabilities. However, OMS website clearly shows that Lodbrog only has DP1 capabilities, and not the DP2 capabilities that Wee claimed during the debate. No wonder Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services wrote three letters to the Prime Minister, the latest being on 1 September 2021, opposing Wee’s cabotage policy and seeking the reinstatement of exemption for foreign ships carrying out submarine cable repairs.
Final Analysis
Wee’s failure to come clean will further stain Malaysia’s reputation amongst the international digital industry and put at risk the RM12-15 billion in digital investments mentioned by former MDEC Chairman Dr Rais Husin apart from the RM1.7 billion in direct losses highlighted by MIDF Research House.