KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 ― DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today questioned Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong’s refusal to set a date for their debate over the cabotage policy.

The Opposition lawmaker noted that Wee had said that the Cabinet will make a final decision early this month and asked why the minister could not set the debate date for October 23.

“Even on the current debate on the cabotage policy for submarine cable repairs, Wee had claimed that the Cabinet will make a final decision in early October. If a decision is to be made by Cabinet in early October, why can’t the debate be held on 23 October 2021?

“Or is Wee misleading Parliament when he said that the matter will be decided by early October?” the Bagan MP asked in a statement.

He noted that the minister has instead been making “angry personal attacks” ahead of the upcoming public debate.

“Wee could be angry because he did not expect me to accept his challenge to debate the link between his wrong cabotage policy and Malaysia missing out on key undersea cable infrastructure projects undertaken by both Facebook and Google as well as the loss of RM12-15 billion in digital investments,” he added.

He said high tech industry giants have already repeatedly written to former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to object to the cabotage exemption policy.

“This is just not another political debate issued angrily by Wee against me laced with toxic personal attacks. This concerns the digital future of our country.

“We must protect our young and the future of our young,” Lim said.

Earlier today, Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim urged the prime minister to intervene and overturn Wee’s decision to revoke the exemption of the cabotage policy on undersea cable repairs.

He asserted that Wee’s decision to bring back cabotage has caused Malaysia to be excluded from the Apricot project by Facebook and Google, losing out on potential high tech investment opportunities worth up to RM15 billion.

The cabotage row began when Wee, in November 2020, revoked the exemption made by his Pakatan Harapan predecessor Anthony Loke.

Shortly after the revocation, Datuk Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff who was the then chairman of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC), issued a public statement criticising the exemption reversal.

In April, Facebook and Google revealed they would lay two huge subsea cables that will link the US West Coast to Singapore and Indonesia, South-east Asia’s biggest economy and home to a growing number of smartphone users, bypassing Malaysia.

Rais resigned from MDEC two days ago, following his remarks likening Wee to a “minister with an IQ of a cabbage” on social media.