KUALA LUMPUR – All foreign cable-laying ships are set to be exempted from the cabotage policy for undersea telecommunication works, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
Loke had today signed the gazette allowing the exemption, which will take effect on June 1, the ministry said in a statement.
“The minister, in exercising the powers conferred by Section 65U of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952, exempts all cable-laying ships engaged in the installation, maintenance, and repair of submarine telecommunication cable landed at any submarine cable landing centre in Malaysian waters from the cabotage policy under subsection 65KA(1) of the Ordinance,” the statement read.
At the request of the Sarawak government, Loke also revoked the cabotage exemption for all ships ferrying cargo from Sarawak ports to ports in Peninsular Malaysia, Labuan, and Sabah, and vice versa.
“Since 2020, Malaysian and international tech companies have voiced the need for the government to adopt a more progressive regulatory framework that can promote more investments in the tech sector,” Loke was quoted as saying in the statement.
“The unity government is committed to accelerating the development of Malaysia’s digital infrastructure.”
The cabotage exemption policy for foreign ships to repair undersea cables in Malaysia was initially implemented and enforced in 2019 during Loke’s previous stint as transport minister under the first Pakatan Harapan government.
However, his successor, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, had approved the revocation of the exemption beginning November 15, 2020, under then-prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration.
Global tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Facebook had then reportedly written to Muhyiddin in a joint memorandum to express their “urgent concerns” over Wee’s decision to cancel the exemption. – May 29, 2024