'Only sorrow for Labuan since becoming FT' claim
Published on: Friday, February 24, 2017
Labuan: Former DAP candidate here Lau Seng Kiat said ex-Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh and Dap leader Lim Kit Siang were accurate in their assessment that the federalisation of Labuan has been a bad experience for the island's residents."There is certainly some development that has taken place in the last 32 years but these could hardly be said to be extraordinary or outstanding and Labuan remains a third class Federal Territory compared to its two other counterparts, namely Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.He said claims that Federal had spent RM5 billion since the island was federalised in 1984 "is hardly great news considering that before the island became a Federal Territory the Sabah State Government allocated more than RM2 billion for the development of Sabah Gas Industries.
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"Sabah Gas Industries comprised the methanol plant, power plant, sponge iron mill and infrastructure."He said until today these projects undertaken when Harris was CM still stand in Labuan and are generating benefits to the island unlike the billions of ringgit said to be spent on Labuan by Federal Government."A number of them ended up as white elephants and are of little benefit to the local economy."Lau noted Labuan had a RM500m international airport but are no international nor chartered flights could land because it was later found out that Labuan airport is classified as a military airport.
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"So what is so great about having an international airport?" asked Lau.He said because of this blunder chartered flights supposed to bring tourists from China could not land and good money spent by the Tourism Minsitry and Labuan Corporation to sell Labuan as a tourist destination ended in a failure.
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Lau said there had been so many Federal Ministers in charge of Labuan but more of them could resolve the landing issue and became a laughing stock by suggesting that Penang now more successfully run by the opposition should be also Federalised.He said another project that ended up as a colossal flop was the RM85m halal hub. Though completed years ago not a single big shipment of halal products had been made by the hub.On the RM26m Sea Sports complex, Lau said he need not go further than to point at the Auditor General's report a few years ago describing it as a white elephant due to under utilisation . He said hardly any international event was held at the complex. He said another joke is that even the ferry terminal is called "International Terminal" but caters only to coastal towns. "Labuan has a knack for calling most of its projects international just for syok senderi (self-gratification)," declared Lau.He said the other project which landed in Labuan because of its FT status was the International Business and Financial Centre. This was in 1990.The status had a positive impact on the local economy but over the years it had waned off. Players were allowed to co-locate offices outside the island and this led to a decline in the presence of banking expatriates."Many feel that the main operations were now outside Labuan while some retained offices here merely to comply with regulations."Lau said over the last few years there has hardly been any new impact generated by the activities of IBFC to the local economy. "In fact, what I heard is that even office renovation jobs were awarded to outside contractors and not locals."On the new Labuan Development Plan (2030) prepared by the FT Ministry, EPU and LC which was expected to create the third wave of boom for Labuan, Lau said it was doubtful."Such development plans are not new. We have the Labuan Master Development plan in 1997 that included proposal for Labuan Menumbok bridge and a new airport at Tg Aru but none materialised."What guarantee is there that the proposal under the new plan will materialise?" asked Lau.What takes the cake, he said, is that while not doing much to boost the local economy, the Federal Government under the name of eradicating smuggling, imposed various curbs on the sale of dutiable products and rubbed salt in the wound.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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