KUALA LUMPUR - PENANG lost out on a multibillion-dollar foreign investment because it does not have enough experienced electrical and electronic engineers, state officials said.
The assertion could point to a worrying drop in Malaysia's international competitiveness. After all, Penang is dubbed the country's Silicon Valley.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told Parliament recently that the state lost US$3 billion (S$4.1 billion) worth of foreign investment because it could not 'commit to having 1,000 engineers'.
'I didn't turn down their investment but they did not want to come because I could not give them a guarantee,' he was quoted as saying by The Star daily.
Parti Gerakan delegates at its annual assembly on Oct 31 staged a protest to demand that Mr Lim explain why he had lost a big investment. The party has an axe to grind because it lost Penang to Mr Lim's Pakatan Rakyat alliance in last year's general election.
According to Mr Lim's chief of staff Jeff Ooi, the specifications laid down by the potential investor were such that Penang could not fulfil them. He and other state officials declined to identify the Western European company involved.
Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
