Wee meets maritime institute officials

PETALING JAYA: Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong held a discussion with the two top officials of the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (Mima) on the direction of the policy research body that focuses on Malaysia’s interest at sea.

Mima chairman Datuk Mohammed Suffian Awang and director-general Datuk Dr Sabirin Ja’afar met Dr Wee when they paid a courtesy call on the minister on Thursday.

Both Suffian and Sabirin have recently assumed their positions.

According to Dr Wee, they had a fruitful discussion on the direction of the maritime institute.

“We discussed the direction of Mima as a leading institute not just in the country but at the international level.

“Mima was formerly known as the Malaysian Institute of Maritime Affairs.

“It is a policy research institute set up by the government to look into issues relating to Malaysia’s interest at sea.

“It also serves as a national focal point for research in the maritime sector,” Dr Wee said in a Facebook post yesterday.

Dr Wee added that Mima played a pivotal role in drafting and amending policies and operational procedures for the maritime economic sector.

“Mima has helped the government and private companies in dealing with research related to policies of the Malaysian government,” he added.

Mima was established in 1993.

It has been tasked with promoting the free exchange of ideas on all maritime matters.

Later in a separate post, Dr Wee said measures needed to be taken to halt the decline in capacity for Malaysia’s national fleet.

He said it was one of the topics discussed with Malaysia Shipowners’ Association chairman Datuk Abdul Hak Md Amin during their meeting yesterday.

“We discussed various issues affecting the shipping industry and agreed that much needs to be done to stop our national fleet’s decline in capacity over the years, which has reduced from 14 million tonnes in 2000 to seven million tonnes today,” he said.

He said they also discussed ways to improve human capital development for the shipping industry, especially in training a new generation who might be finding it difficult to find berths in a reduced fleet nationwide.

Dr Wee said Abdul Hak also applauded the ministry’s efforts to obtain a corporate tax waiver for shipowners with effect from Jan 1 next year to 2023.

“Hopefully, the industry players can take advantage of this incentive,” he said.