Kota Kinabalu: Sabah DAP regrets that the centuries-old barter trade may have to pay the price for the failure by both police and Esscom to guard our border and ensure the people's security following the latest kidnapping. "The logic that banning barter trade is equivalent to curbing criminal activities does not hold water. As kidnappings by Abu Sayyaf groups become more rampant, we should be more vigilant and not lose our heads nor must we have this strange belief that, for instance, in order to reduce road accidents, we must ban vehicles," said DAP Sabah vice chief, Chan Foong Hin.It said that banning barter trade between Sabah and its neighbours Southern Philippines and East Kalimantan – that brings in a total trade value of RM150 million to RM300 million annually – would hurt the economy.
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"How can we go against the market forces by banning foreign traders from entering the country? The only way is regulating them according to our law and regulations," said Chan, adding that the proposal by Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar clearly showed that the police did not understand economics.In fact, he said, barter trade played an important role in enhancing and sustaining the socio economic development and growth of the local economies of the Bimp-Eaga (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area), covering a land area of 1.54 million square kilometres and a population of some 70 million.There are four ports managing the barter trade, namely Sandakan, Tawau, Kudat and Labuan. The number of barter traders issued with the Seaman International Card in 2012 was 18,388 with vessels involved numbering 1,768. Chan who is also Sri Tanjong Assemblyman said barter trade existed simply due to market forces.
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"Residents of Western Mindanao prefer to purchase goods in Sabah, where commodities are cheap. For Tawi-Tawi residents, it is also easier to sail to Sabah than to sail to Zamboanga City," he said.According to him, barter trading was a century-old practice that went back to the time when "barter traders" directly exchanged goods for other goods or services without using currencies.
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"They still call it barter even if it has transformed into commercial trading," he said. Chan said it was wrong to put the blame for the recent kidnapping in Sandakan on barter trade. Chan said the Immigration Department had, in fact, taken stricter action to control the movement of barter traders. In 2013, it abolished the issuance of the Seaman Identification Card (SIQ) to barter traders and made it compulsory for them to have an international passport or seaman book from their respective countries before they are allowed to land in Sabah and Labuan.On top of this, Chan said the barter trade crewmen were only allowed to be at entry points in Sabah and Labuan for a maximum of seven days with no possibility of extension. "If anything goes wrong after stricter control on the barter traders, it's the fault of our own authorities," he said."Banning barter trade definitely is not curbing kidnappings or other criminal activities effectively. On the other hand it might cause consequences to the contrary," said Chan.He said based on previous cross-border abduction cases, it appeared that the main objective of the perpetrators was basically money. "For them, kidnapping-for-ransom is a lucrative business, no thanks to the ineffective security along our coastline from the north to east coast," he said. He noted that an independent researcher Mak Joon Nam, in his paper entitled "Pirates, Barter Traders, and Fishers: Whose Rights, Whose Security? User Conflicts and Maritime Non-traditional Security in Malaysian Waters" published in 2009 had said: "Trade is also seen as one way of helping to pacify the southern Philippines. As a Malaysian official observed, it is one way of ensuring that the cost of living there remains low and affordable."If the cost of living goes up too much, the people of the southern Philippines will feel forced to migrate illegally to Malaysia. Worse, they might resort to their traditional occupation of piracy."Therefore, Chan said the begging question here is would banning barter trade ease or worsen the economy in the southern Philippines region. "I think a prosperous southern Philippines would not only discourage such 'hit-and-run kidnapping-for-ransom industry' but would also stem the exodus of illegal immigrants from that area to Sabah," he said.Meanwhile, DAP Sabah chief Jimmy Wong said putting in additional equipment and more personnel without giving guarantees on the security of Sabah would only put the people's money to waste.He said the Government must appoint an independent body to assess the efficiency of Esscom in order to regain the public's confidence in the security forces.Esscom must also prove that it can destroy the whole kidnapping network without paying any ransom money."We must ensure there is no abuse of power in Esscom. Don't just pour in more officers because what the people want is quality. We also call upon Esscom to get feedback from the people of Sabah," he said in a statement.In order to control the influx of illegal immigrants more effectively, Wong who is Kota Kinabalu MP, suggested that the Government give legal documentation to all illegal immigrants now working in Sabah in a transparent manner."The government can give them time to get the valid documents to work within three months and not just arrest Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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