Chamber wants stop to the barter trade
Published on: Thursday, September 20, 1962
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The traders here have sent a petition to the Government asking it that the barter trade should immediately be stopped in the face of menace caused by the pirates in the area.
The letter which is copied to the Chief Secretary, said that the question of piracy had been discussed by the Lahad Datu District Council at its last meeting and all members had voted against the barter trade in Lahad Datu. The letter added: “If the weight if public opinion in Lahad Datu should mean anything at all, it is high time for the Government to act.” The letter pointed out that the demand by the traders was not in the least surprising as the barter trade in Lahad Datu had been closed in the past after the Semporna raid in which one European Forest Officer had been killed.
Later someone suggested that the barter trade in Lahad Datu should be re-opened. At the time all shop-keepers had been asked at a meeting held in the Court House to decide on the barter trade. It was on the strength of mere five winning votes at that meeting that it was decided to re-open the barter trade. The traders have now voted against the barter trade, the letter said, the decision was made known in a letter on August 7 this year addressed to the District Officer. The August 7 letter bore voluminous signatures of 86 shop-keepers out of a total of 92 in Lahad Datu. The high percentage of signatures should speak well for itself regarding the public opinion, the letter added.
“The Government’s present action in maintaining an air and sea force is a very good thing” but the chamber considered it an expensive business to look for the nimble plundering boats.
The letter added that the Government would lose nothing of the barter trade was interrupted, as it could still be operated in other ports of the country. “To us the practical menace is real only because we are living in the thick of it,” the letter concluded.
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