Will Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong repeat his mantra that the KKMM Minister is wrong just like the former Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation(MDEC) Chairman Dr Rais Hussin is wrong, that Wee’s defective cabotage policy has caused Apricot’s 12,000 kilometer-long submarine cable to bypass Malaysia? Google and Facebook have launched the Apricot project to build an underwater cable system to provide internet access to island nations stretching in an arc from Indonesia to Japan.
Apricot, will connect Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia but will bypass Malaysia due to Wee’s refusal to grant cabotage exemption for foreign ships carrying out submarine cable repairs. Despite Wee’s refusal to take responsibility for causing Apricot to bypass Malaysia when responding to me in Parliament on 30 September, the KKMM Minister in his written reply to Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim on 5 October 2021 said otherwise, The KKMM Minister said that Apricot bypassed Malaysia due to the cabotage exemption policy as follows.
“Pemilihan negara bagi menyertai rancangan pemasangan kabel Internet Apricot dasar laut (subsea cables) adalah keputusan syarikat Facebook dan Google. Malaysia tidak tersenarai (bypass) sebagai salah satu negara yang terlibat dalam pendaratan stesen kabel dasar laut tersebut memandangkan isu pengecualian Dasar Kabotaj yang masih belum selesai.”
MIDF Research house had estimated that “Malaysia’s exclusion from the Facebook and Google-backed Apricot subsea cable will result in a loss of high-capacity connectivity and investment worth US$300 million-US$400 million. Dr Rais Hussin further said that the revocation of the cabotage exemption policy for submarine cable repairs has also caused the loss of some RM12 billion to RM15 billion worth of digital investment.
After Wee attacked Rais in Parliament as wrong to link his cabotage policy with the loss of these critical investments, Rais resigned several days later stating that he refused to become a “Yes-man”! Now the KKMM Minister has openly repudiated Wee as wrong. Will either one of the Ministers have to resign? More importantly, who is telling the truth and guilty of misleading Parliament when both contradictory replies are made in Parliament?
There is too much at stake than the ego of Wee who refuses to admit that he was wrong. This concerns RM12-15 billion of investments in the digital future of our country. This is the reason DAP is actively pushing for Wee to reverse his wrong cabotage policy to protect our young and the future of our young.