“Dr Wee’s continued silence cannot cover up his big lies on national TV”

FORMER Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng accused Transport Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong of embarrassing the Government by refusing to respond to Bangi MP Dr Ong Kian Ming on the five “big lies” that Wee had made on national television during the cabotage policy debate on Nov 2.

According to the Bagan MP, Ong had fact-checked Wee’s claims and discovered them to be “not only misleading but downright false”.

“Wee repeatedly stated that the Japanese telco giant, NTT, is the sole owner of the proposed 12,000km Apricot undersea submarine cable project that is bypassing Malaysia,” Lim said.

“But Ong had exposed this lie as there are other shareholders in the project including Google, Facebook, PLDT (the Philippines’ largest telco company) and Chunghwa Telecom (a Taiwanese telco company).”

Lim also reiterated Ong’s earlier point that Yoshio Sato is not the vice president of NTT but rather, had left NTT to set up his own Singapore-registered company called Orient Link Pte Ltd.

“Sato was touted by Wee as instrumental in the Apricot cable project and there is a slide in his presentation which showed Sato as a vice president of NTT. However, Sato was only a manager [there] and not a vice president,” he pointed out.

Ong had stressed in his statement on Nov 5 that Sato was no longer with NTT and therefore cannot speak on behalf of the company’s future investments in the region.

Lim went on to point out that Orient Link Pte Ltd, the company that Sato has founded, is a Singapore-registered company led by NTT Group and established with partners of Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japan’s ICT and Postal Services Inc (JICT) and WEN Capital Pte Ltd (WEN).

“In a press statement by the Japan ICT Fund (JICT) dated Dec 13, 2019, it was stated that the director of WEN Capital is none other than Lim Soon Foo.”

Lim Soon Foo is the executive chairman of OMS Group, the only company in Malaysia that claims to have undersea cable submarine repair capabilities and the largest beneficiary of the cabotage policy which Wee reinstated when he became Transport Minister.

Lim Soon Foo is also a director of Wen Capital Pte Ltd, which is a part shareholder of Sato’s company, Orient Link Pte Ltd.

“As Lim’s company is the main beneficiary of the undersea cable repair cabotage policy, there is a clear conflict of interest on the part of Sato.

“This is because Sato cannot be speaking independently on his views on the cabotage policy if one of his company’s shareholders is also the main beneficiary of this policy,” Lim noted.

Lim further panned Wee for unveiling the Intra-Asia Express Cable Project during a live debate over the cabotage policy, calling it inappropriate.

“Wee announced a major foreign investment during the debate, the ‘Intra-Asia Express Cable Project’ which Sato is currently consulting on and would connect Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Sarawak, Peninsular Malaysia, and Singapore.

“Such an announcement during a debate and not done through a proper forum with the foreign investor where all approvals are given does not inspire confidence.”

Lim also refuted Wee’s claims that the newly-purchased Lodbrog ship by OMS Group has Dynamic Positioning 2 (DP2) undersea cable repair capabilities.

“The OMS website clearly shows that Lodbrog only has DP1 capabilities and not the DP2 capabilities that Wee claimed during the debate,” he justified. – Nov 10, 2021

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