In a letter to Wee, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Harun said Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng has called for him to be referred to the Rights and Privileges Committee for a statement the minister made in Parliament on Sept 30.

“The statement is also seen as contradicting a written reply from the Ketereh MP cum communications and multimedia minister that was given to the Bukit Mertajam MP on Oct 5,” Azhar said.

He asked Wee to provide an explanation and submit the relevant documents to support his explanation.

Lim, in a letter to Azhar accused Wee of confusing the Dewan Rakyat on the issue of the  Apricot subsea project, which involved the construction of a new subsea cable system for the Asia-Pacific region.

While Malaysia was not involved in the project, Wee said the country’s involvement or non-involvement was based on various factors, including offers given and conditions set by the tech giants.

He also said the cabotage policy should not be blamed as the only reason for Malaysia not being involved in the project.

Wee had also denied former Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) chairman Rais Hussain’s claim that the cabotage policy had resulted in a loss of RM12 billion to RM15 billion in submarine cable projects and overseas investment.

He said the cabotage policy only applied in the context of repairs and not installation.

However, Lim pointed out that on Oct 5, the communications and multimedia ministry in a written reply to a question on the Apricot subsea project, said it was Facebook and Google that decided on the countries participating in the project.

“Malaysia is not listed as one of the countries involved in the landing of the subsea cable station due to the issue of the cabotage plan exemption,” it said.

Lim said this was proof that Wee had confused the Dewan Rakyat.

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