Maritime laws to be harmonised, but rights of Sabah, Sarawak stay, says Transport Minister

The Star

2 days ago

PETALING JAYA: Maritime laws will be harmonised to ensure better uniformity throughout the nation but the government assures it will not encroach into the authorities of Sabah and Sarawak, says Anthony Loke.
The Transport Minister said that the current maritime laws need to be updated for Malaysia to stay in line with global developments and further enhance the maritime industry.
Loke said this to the media after officiating the Malaysia Maritime Week 2025 at a hotel here Tuesday (July 15).
'We are not aiming to combine all three ordinances - (state, Federal and Sabah and Sarawak), but to harmonise them so that policies and regulations are consistent nationally. This is a challenge. Some ordinances are sometimes inconsistent with each other. Hence, we need to sit down, discuss, and create a framework to harmonise, not to take away powers.
'This is very important. I want to stress respect for the rights of Sabah and Sarawak regarding federal transport. We will continue to uphold and respect their maritime rights.
'But we need to discuss and harmonise legislation so we can move forward better as a country.
'What we are currently implementing is to review the legislative framework, especially laws and facts involving Malaysia as well.
'Many of these laws are old, not reviewed for a long time, and perhaps many parts are no longer relevant or not in line with current developments that we need to reconsider so that our country's maritime industry becomes more active.
'The Malaysia Maritime Law and Reform Committee is chaired by former Federal Court judge Tan Sri Nalini Pathmanathan, who is also an active legal expert. There are many other experts in the committee who will contribute proposals for amendments to the laws so that they can be brought to Parliament within a year.
'We have given the committee one year to review the six laws. We told them they don't have to wait a full year to complete the review; whenever they are ready, we will proceed with registration, starting with the ones regarding the Malaysian shipping. Once the review is done, of course, we will look at legislation and draft laws.
'This year and onwards, every particular sitting will bring something to Parliament for amendments.
'At the end of this year's parliamentary session, we will present a new view - so as to create a source of power to establish a special court for maritime matters, called Admiralty Court.
'Right now, we do not have a special court for maritime relief. Currently, the High Court handles maritime cases, with one of the High Courts specialised in maritime. What we want is to create a court to give future courses for our capacity.
'This will make our judiciary and legal system more complete in handling maritime disputes and issues,' said Loke.
Loke also stated that Malaysia's reliance on international shipping has led to deficits in the country's balance of payment (purchase and sales) in the transport industry.
'Most of our exports - particularly international exports - are handled by foreign shipping lines because we do not yet have a strong local international shipping industry. We do have local shipping companies, but their operations are mostly domestic.
'So when it comes to international exports, a large portion is carried by foreign-owned vessels.
'The industry itself is highly consolidated now, making it very difficult for local players to compete with large international shipping lines.
'That said, we are working to reduce this gap. For example, in certain segments such as oil and gas, we have relatively strong local companies. So we are focusing more on those areas and trying to export our services - particularly in maritime logistics.
"Take oil tankers, for instance. We hope our local oil tankers can secure more business and expand their international operations, helping us to reduce the transportation-related trade deficit.
'If you look at our ports, our volumes have increased significantly.
"In fact, we are preparing for an announcement by Lloyd's List this coming August, which is expected to confirm that the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) will be ranked among the top 10 busiest ports in the world.
'As of June 2025, we've seen a consistent increase - with almost 10% monthly growth in port throughput (PDP) so far this year,' said Loke.
Earlier in his speech at the event, Loke said that the maritime balance of payments highlights a core economic paradox.
'It is a world-leading trading nation with globally ranked ports, yet it has a structural dependency on foreign shipping to carry its trade. This leads to a persistent and significant deficit in its sea transport account, which is a major contributor to the overall services deficit.
'As stated in the Fourth Malaysia Plan (1981-1985), the main policy objective is to make Malaysia a 'Maritime Nation'. Making Malaysia a maritime nation can therefore be interpreted as promoting the growth of all sectors that are directly involved in this industry,' said Loke.