Penampang MP Darell Leiking has questioned the need to set up another committee to discuss the scrapping of the cabotage policy for Sabah.

This is after Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced last month the cabotage policy would be supposedly lifted starting yesterday, June 1.

Despite the deadline, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister James Masing followed up Najib's announcement saying a decision would instead be made in six months.

"This simply shows how incapable our state BN leaders are when dealing with issues relating to state-federal relationship," said Leiking in a statement today.

He said Sabahans now know "anything relating to Sabah-Federal announced by Najib Razak is never really a good news" but would merely result in another working committee.

"We have committees after committees being set-up after any of Najib's announcement which supposedly is supposed to be 'a good news' to Sabahans."

He said such committees are known to be slow in issuing definite answers or recommendations to the federal government, citing for example the working committee on the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on the illegal immigrants in Sabah that concluded in 2013.

"Why is this so?

"Why is it that our BN state cabinet ministers never insisted to have a working committee to look into the implications of the Goods & Services Tax (GST) in Sabah, which was tabled by the Umno-led federal government?" Leiking asked.

Election ploy?

The cabotage policy requires all cargo shipping services to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan to first go through Port Klang or Tanjung Pelepas in Peninsular Malaysia.

"Sabahans have sought the abolition of the cabotage policy in Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan.

"Let me tell you that upon recommendations from the Sabah state government and the Sabah BN, the government has decided to implement the exemption of the cabotage policy on cargo services (in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan), starting June 1," announced Najib during a visit to Sandakan on May 7.

However opposition leaders have asked if the announcement had been made for the benefit of the 14th general election, expected in the second half of this year.

Leiking accused Sabah's BN leaders of failing to bring up the cabotage issue with Putrajaya.

"If they really have been fighting against the policy, then all the necessary data on the implications should have already been ready and prepared much earlier, and without any need for another working committee."

He said there already exists research on the matter, citing former president of the Federation of Sabah Manufacturers Wong Ken Thau's in-depth report.

"Now it is apparent that they (Sabah BN leaders) are not prepared at all, and are only dependent on Najib's announcement in order to do something," he said.

"As far as I know, any policy that is unfair and irrelevant to Sabahans, and should be abolished."

The MP said the policy was not beneficial to the state and therefore, they should not be "accommodating to the will of Umno-BN".