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Kota Kinabalu: Sabah will not follow Sarawak in reinstating the Cabotage policy, said State Industrial Development Minister Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe.

Optimistic of the State’s exportability status through international ship liners as its industry develops, he said:

“Last I checked, Hong Kong, Xiamen and Singapore ships came. The Xiamen ship just left. Sabah is the only State without Cabotage since 2017. 

“People needed Cabotage to force the ships from Klang to Kota Kinabalu. Now liberalised, we need to create a strong economy for shipping companies around the world to come. 

“SK Nexilis and Kibing now have to export 50 containers every day. Kibing is going to upscale to 100 containers per day. Sabah needs to have exportability.” 

Responding to concerns, Phoong said state and federal tax incentives, among others, for FDIs may look fishy, but is common practice.

“Sometimes I feel bizarre, now that we take on a foreign investment, we get criticised. SK Nexilis is the second largest conglomerate, a very reliable investor. It’s not like we were giving to a one dollar company. 

“As a pioneer status, investing in such high technology and green especially will help our industry. 

“Incentives come not only from the State Government but even more from federal through the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida).

“These investments have also created more than 2,000 high skill jobs which is something Sabah wants,” he said.

Phoong explained that without good incentives, investors would opt for Vietnam or Indonesia.

“Then we’ll get criticised again. Some investors are asking for free land. Imagine the criticism if we gave them that. But they do, as incentives in China, Indonesia and Vietnam.  

“We need to install success stories for more companies to come for Sabah to be known to the whole world because they create jobs, pay tax and create spill over.

“SK Nexilis initially wanted to go to Sarawak because our electricity was higher, but because of strategic locations, among others, we still attracted them. This is business right? No need to jump into that kind of argument,” he said.