Cabotage policy did not cause Facebook to skip Malaysia in undersea cable plans, says Dr Wee

PETALING JAYA: The reimposition of cabotage policy on submarine cable repair works did not cause tech giants to skip Malaysia as part of its plans to install undersea cables to boost Internet connection in the region, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong. Referring to Facebook’s plan to install Bifrost and Echo undersea cables, the Transport Minister said the two undersea cables did not mean to bypass Malaysia because Facebook had built a database in Tanjong Keling Data Centre Park, Singapore in 2019. Dr Wee said the data centre was built in Singapore because Malaysia lacked the appropriate data centre infrastructure. “For example between 2018 and 2019 (under Pakatan Harapan), Malaysia was busy wasting time and money for ancient ideas such as flying cars, rather than a data centre and the third industrial revolution,” he said in a Facebook post on Sunday (April 4). Dr Wee was responding to a report by portal SoyaCincau that quoted the Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX) as urging the government to reinstate the cabotage exemption for foreign vessels to conduct undersea cable repair works or risk losing out foreign direct investments to neighbouring countries. He also dismissed claims by the report that Facebook is avoiding…
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