SABAH URGED TO HAVE OWN MARITIME COLLEGE - MUSA AMAN

Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun (centre) holding  a memento with Director of Marine Department Sabah Region Rosnan bin Fathlal (left) and MD/CEO Centre of Maritime Excellence Dato Capt Jaffar bin Lamri (right).

KOTA KINABALU : Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said it's a good idea to  have a  Sabah Maritime College to encourage more Sabahans to be trained as future seafarers and urged the relevant authorities to draw up programmes for such training.

He said the the two maritime training institutions at present in Kota Kinabalu- Pusat Latihan Pelaut Dagang (PLPD) and Pelita Maslaut, operated with limited facilities and training resources.

“It is unfortunate  that the many opportunities available in the shipping sector are not taken up by locals, perhaps due to ignorance on what the maritime industry can offer” he said in his keynote address at the Sabah Maritime Seminar: Maritime Sectoral Developments in Sabah Shipping; Oil and Gas; and Maritime Security at a leading hotel here this morning.

His text of speech was read by Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun who represented the Chief Minister.

Musa said the maritime industry is one of the main pillars of our economy, with an estimated 95 percent of Malaysia’s trade carried via sea... the bulk of malaysia’s international trade – the lifeline of the country’s economy – is transported by ships through major ports in the country including the Kota Kinabalu, Kudat, Lahad Datu, Sandakan and Tawau ports in Sabah.

Sabah shares the governments aspiration for Malaysia to be a strong maritime nation and supports policies to increase the nation’s participation in the maritime industry, Musa added.

On the same note, Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun who spoke to reporters after the opening ceremony, welcomed the idea of Marine Department of Malaysia Sabah Region and Centre of Maritime Excellence to set up a Sabah Maritime College.

He said 65 percent of seafarers in Malaysian ships were foreigners and out of 112,000 seafarers only 1112  were Sabahans.

“This is the first seminar on Maritime in Sabah and I hope this will open the mind of the  Sabahans to venture into this  sector which has vast potentials,” he said.

Masidi also praised the organisers of the seminar to invite ESSCOM to present a working paper on the sea security in this region.

The paper by ESSCOM will give confidence to investors and tourism players in this region, he said.

The seminar was attended by more than 140 participants from Shipping , Oil and Gas and Ports sectors.-/PENERANGAN

RS/AZ