19/03/2012 (Daily Express) - The Halatuju of the State Government will play a little role in economic development as other key economic growth areas which are crucial remain unattended here, claimed Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee.

Yong said among the three key issues in the Halatuju, tourism had no impact on the district as tourists continue to flock to neighbouring Semporna while the district has nothing worthwhile to convince tourists to stay.

"We all know that tourists come to the district's airport and go straight to Semporna and return in the same manner with Tawau being by-passed in the process," he said when launching the party's Sabah Economic Plan luncheon forum held at a hotel here, Saturday.

He also said the next key issue is the agriculture sector had been in the district for the past two to three generations citing that the district had been active in agriculture since with production of rubber, cocoa and now palm oil.

The other key issue in the Halatuju is the manufacturing sector.

Yong said the Halatuju will not benefit the district while other key issues such as barter trade which has sustained the district in terms of economy had been largely ignored by the authority.

He cited that rapid development in neighbouring Kalimantan in the Indonesian side and the strategic location of the district's infrastructures will raise the potential of the district and this, among others, should be one of the key issues needed to be addressed for the district to progress further.

Yong also said on the need for future plan to make sure that palm oil production in the district will continue to become end products such as the bio-diesel technology as the development in agriculture in neighbouring country will create a vacuum of foreign labour and cripple a major economy of the district if nothing is done.

"It will not be surprising if in the future China which bought a large amount of our palm oil will have another option in the form of palm oil from Indonesia and we might end up with no buyer for our produces if we do nothing to address the current trend," he said.

He cited that with the agriculture development seen, it is not impossible that the district which currently relies heavily on Indonesian workers will eventually end up with no Indonesian wishing to work there when there are ample jobs in their own country.

"If this happens, then we have to think of how to diversify the usage of palm oil and one idea is the turning of palm oil into bio-diesel which is currently proven viable," he added.

At the same time, Yong also cited on the need to retain the 7.5 per cent tax from the oil produce from palm oil but cited that some of the collection should be returned to a palm oil body for development such as in the effort to solve the impending worker shortage in the future.

"I think 20 per cent of the total tax imposed should be given to a body such as Sabah Palm Oil Council for planters to seek solutions to problems they faced," he added.

Yong, in his speech, also touched on land lease where many were now owning properties with a lease of only 99 years compared to 999 years before.

He said they are concerned over the matter as the reduction of lease years had drastically reduced the value of such properties such as lands or houses for current leasers.

"If we increase the lease back to 999, I can see that Government can still collect taxes and owners will have little to worry about the loss of value on their properties," he said.

Yong at the same time also urged owners with a triple nine title not to sell it off but instead lease such land for a tenure of 30 or 50 years citing that owners can get back their land and pass them to their future generation.

"Lease it out for a number of years and don't sell it off totally," he added.