Published by Bernama, Astro Awani, Daily Express & Asia News Today, image from Free Malaysia Today.
Although the government will triple the bandwidth capacity of the Sistem Kabel Rakyat Malaysia (SKRM) submarine cable linking West and East Malaysia, the recent decision by the Transport Ministry (MOT) to revoke the cabotage exemption for foreign vessels to conduct undersea cable repairs in Malaysian waters might scare foreign investors away from investing in telecommunications and internet infrastructure in Malaysia.
This is especially prominent in Sabah, a Malaysian state with a relatively higher cost of living. The Sabahans should know this as the cabotage policy was implemented in Sabah and Sarawak for a whole range of foreign goods and services, not just undersea cable repairs prior to 2017.
Even though the cabotage policy was rescinded in 2017 in Sabah and Sarawak, which allows foreign vessels to land at Sabah ports directly, this still does not result in a lower cost of living.
The reason is there is still not enough cargo returning to Peninsular Malaysia from Sabah, so foreign ships from the Far East such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China with smaller export quantities of imports destined for Sabah still had to transit in Port Klang, the national shipping hub first before heading to Sabah.
This implies a higher cost as the foreign cargo meant for Sabah has to go through a longer supply chain which includes shipping agents and forwarders, truckers and shipping lines.
As a result, the prolonged process of delivering goods from the Far East to Sabah has, in turn, dampened the cost competitiveness, still raising the cost of living in Sabah up to 30 per cent compared to the prices in Peninsular Malaysia due to higher shipping freight costs.
Besides a smaller trade volume, other factors contributing to a higher price in Sabah are weak distribution channels, high handling charges, inefficient inland transportation, the inefficiency of port operations and underdeveloped infrastructures in Sabah.
In this sense, nothing really changes in Sabah with the exemption of the cabotage policy in 2017.
Cost competitiveness
Coming to the issue of the cabotage policy with regard to undersea cable repairs in Malaysian waters, Malaysia currently does not have sufficient capacity of cable repair ships to support the necessary capacity and capability of submarine cable invested by the Over the Top (OTT) content providers such as Facebook and Google.
Former transport minister Anthony Loke and former communications and multimedia minister Gobind Singh Deo also were particularly concerned the repair could take up to 27 days if exemption from the cabotage policy, which was given during the Pakatan Harapan administration, is revoked, as it is now.
The fear is this might further dampen the cost competitiveness in Sabah, given that Malaysia only has one vessel to carry out undersea cable works.
The cabotage policy also represents a barrier for the restoration of submarine cable failures – indirectly indicating the failure of Malaysia’s effort to attract foreign investment into the country.
What makes the issue very critical is Sabah recorded 81.2 per 100 inhabitants for broadband penetration in the first quarter of 2020 – lower than the national average of 127.4, according to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
This adds insult to injury among Sabahans as the increased delays in underseas cable repairs would severely affect the internet stability, quality and speed to customers and industries in Sabah.
Coupled with expensive electricity tariff and poor infrastructure, it might hinder industrialisation growth in Sabah. As of 2019, the contribution of the manufacturing sector was only 7.6% of the Sabah’s GDP due to lack of downstream processed product available for export.
As Sabah had to rely on imported raw materials and machinery, the cost of construction in Sabah is estimated to be at about 20 per cent higher than in Peninsular Malaysia. This is also reflected in the property prices in Sabah, the highest in the country.
Although the issue of cost of living has been brought up by industrial players, opposition parties and even non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Sabah for years, the price disparity between Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia still persists.
There is also a concern that Sabahans would not realise the benefits from the recent launch of Gerbang Sabah, an undersea fibre optic landing station at Tanjung Aru in Kota Kinabalu due to the prolonged repair time of undersea cable.
Digitalisation initiatives
The following are the digitalisation initiatives that are being promised by the current administration:
- The undersea cable will be upgraded from 4Tbps to 12.8Tbps in three years. It replaces the old Malaysian Domestic Submarine Cable System (MDSCS) which was deployed in 1995 and has a limited capacity of 400Gbps;
- Jendela will be implemented in two phases, involving the construction of 41 new telecommunication towers and upgrading of the 924 existing communication transmitters to 4G under the Universal Service Provision (USP) programme;
- 35 new towers and 1,048 communication transmitters in existing towers will also be commercially upgraded by service providers to increase 4G coverage; and
- A total of 190,115 premises in the state will also be provided with access to fibre optic communications.
Policy suggestions
Therefore, for Sabah to benefit from digital transformation besides normal prices of goods, EMIR Research has several policy suggestions for the federal government to look into:
1.Upgrade Sabah’s Sepanggar Bay Container Port (SBCP) as a National Load Centre (NLC) by creating a dual gateway policy, with Port Klang covering the western hemisphere and Sabah covering the east;
2.Develop Lahad Datu POIC (Palm Oil Industrial Cluster) Port as a regional shipping entrepot due to its proximity to resource-rich areas such as Sulawesi, Irian Jaya, the maritime resources of the Celebes Sea, Sulu Sea and the shipping potential of the Lombok-Makassar Straits. Once Indonesia’s capital city relocates to East Kalimantan by 2024, POIC Port would be the second port in Sabah to realise regional growth;
3.Focus on downstream and value-added processing activities to generate investment opportunities, moving towards a high-pay, high-income economy in Sabah;
4.Work with the Federation of Sabah Industries (FSI) to ensure economic progress of the state;
5.Implement a freight equalisation programme like Tasmania, Australia, to reduce the price of goods in Sabah.
By utilising Sabah’s strategic position in the South China Sea, it serves not only the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) but also exports from the Far East can land in SBCP or POIC Port.
With shorter repair time of undersea cable, Sabah would be able to capture numerous new and enormous opportunities related to oil palm, biomass, shipping, oil & gas, manufacturing, logistics and other resource-based industries.
Amanda Yeo is Research Analyst at EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
Diterbitkan oleh Bernama & Malaysia Top News.
Pembatalan dasar pengecualian kabotaj yang membolehkan kapal asing melakukan pembaikan kabel bawah laut di perairan Malaysia boleh menjejaskan minat pelabur asing untuk melabur dalam infrastruktur telekomunikasi dan Internet di Malaysia, menurut seorang penganalisis penyelidikan.
Amanda Yeo dari EMIR Research bimbang perkara ini akan berlaku walaupun kerajaan akan meningkatkan kapasiti Sistem Kabel Rakyat Malaysia (SKRM) sebanyak tiga kali ganda yang menghubungkan Malaysia Barat dan Malaysia Timur.
“Ini amat penting di Sabah, sebuah negeri di Malaysia dengan kos sara hidup yang agak tinggi berikutan dasar kabotaj dilaksanakan di Sabah dan Sarawak untuk pelbagai jenis barangan dan perkhidmatan asing, bukan sahaja pembaikan kabel bawah laut sebelum 2017,” katanya.
Beliau berkata walaupun dasar kabotaj yang membenarkan kapal asing berlabuh di pelabuhan Sabah secara langsung telah dibatalkan pada 2017 di Sabah dan Sarawak, langkah itu tidak menyebabkan kos sara hidup lebih rendah.
“Selain jumlah perdagangan yang lebih kecil, faktor lain yang menyumbang kepada harga lebih tinggi di Sabah ialah saluran pengedaran yang lemah, caj pengendalian yang tinggi, pengangkutan darat yang tidak cekap, ketidakcekapan operasi pelabuhan dan infrastruktur yang kurang maju di Sabah.
“Oleh itu, tiada yang benar-benar berubah di Sabah dengan pengecualian dasar kabotaj pada 2017,” katanya dalam ruangan ‘Thoughts’ di laman web www.bernama.com, sebagai mengulas cadangan tindakan daripada Kementerian Pengangkutan.
Mengenai pembaikan kabel bawah laut di perairan Malaysia, beliau berkata negara kini tidak mempunyai kapasiti kapal pembaikan kabel yang mencukupi untuk menyokong kapasiti dan keupayaan kabel bawah laut yang diperlukan yang dilaburkan oleh penyedia kandungan Over the Top (OTT) seperti Facebook dan Google.
“Kebimbangannya ialah ini mungkin menjejaskan daya saing kos di Sabah, berdasarkan Malaysia hanya mempunyai satu kapal untuk menjalankan kerja-kerja kabel bawah laut,” katanya.
Beliau berkata dasar kabotaj turut menjadi penghalang kepada pemulihan kegagalan kabel bawah laut, secara tidak langsung menunjukkan kegagalan usaha Malaysia untuk menarik pelaburan asing ke negara ini.
“Apa yang menjadikan isu ini amat penting ialah Sabah mencatatkan 81.2 bagi 100 penduduk untuk kadar penembusan jalur lebar pada suku pertama 2020, lebih rendah daripada purata nasional sebanyak 127.4, menurut Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC).
“Ini menjadikan situasi lebih sukar dalam kalangan rakyat Sabah berikutan peningkatan kelewatan dalam pembaikan kabel bawah laut akan menjejaskan kestabilan, kualiti dan kelajuan Internet kepada pelanggan dan industri di Sabah. Selain tarif elektrik yang mahal dan infrastruktur yang lemah, ini akan menghalang pertumbuhan perindustrian di Sabah,” katanya.
Mengenai inisiatif pendigitalan yang dijanjikan oleh pentadbiran semasa, beliau berkata EMIR Research mempunyai beberapa cadangan dasar untuk kerajaan Persekutuan menelitinya bagi Sabah mendapat manfaat daripada transformasi digital selain harga normal untuk barangan.
Cadangan itu termasuklah menaik taraf Pelabuhan Kontena Teluk Sepanggar (SBCP) Sabah sebagai Pusat Muatan Negara; membangunkan Kluster Industri Minyak Sawit (POIC) Lahad Datu sebagai entrepot penghantaran serantau; memberi tumpuan kepada aktiviti pemprosesan hiliran dan nilai tambah untuk menjana peluang pelaburan; bekerjasama dengan Federation of Sabah Industries; dan melaksanakan Freight Equalisation Programme seperti Tasmania, Australia.
“Dengan memanfaatkan kedudukan strategik Sabah di Laut China Selatan, ia bukan hanya memberikan perkhidmatan kepada Kawasan Pertumbuhan ASEAN Timur Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Filipina (BIMP-EAGA) tetapi juga eksport dari Timur Jauh yang boleh berlabuh di SBCP atau Pelabuhan POIC.
“Dengan masa pembaikan kabel bawah laut yang lebih pendek, Sabah akan dapat memanfaatkan banyak peluang baharu berkaitan dengan kelapa sawit, biojisim, perkapalan, minyak dan gas, pembuatan, logistik dan industri berasaskan sumber yang lain,” katanya.
Pandangan Amanda juga boleh dibaca di https://www.bernama.com/en/thoughts/news.php?id=1911129, bertajuk “Time To Revisit Cabotage Policy Liberalisation In Sabah”.
THOUGHTS adalah ruangan di Bernama.com iaitu pakar dalam pelbagai bidang boleh berkongsi pendapat dan idea mereka mengenai pelbagai topik dan isu semasa.
Amanda Yeo merupakan Penganalisis Penyelidik di EMIR Research, sebuah organisasi pemikir bebas yang fokus kepada pencernaan saranan-saranan dasar strategik berteraskan penyelidikan yang terperinci, konsisten dan menyeluruh.
