Bloomberg's reports on Penang's progress has BN trembling
In the first seven months of 2011, Penang won 3.6 billion
ringgit ($1.2 billion) of approved foreign manufacturing
investment, ahead of the 3.4 billion ringgit that went to
Selangor, the state that surrounds the capital Kuala Lumpur, a
government report showed last month.
It’s not the first time the state has set the pace for
technology investment in Malaysia. Penang, a base for the spread
of British influence in the 18th century, was the center of a
manufacturing push in Malaysia’s shift from rubber and tin
production in the 1970s, attracting companies including Intel
Corp. (INTC) and Robert Bosch to assemble chips and build car radios.
Penang’s economic resurgence may bolster the opposition
alliance’s claim it can be an alternative to the National Front,
which has run the country since independence from British rule
in 1957. A national election may be called with 60 days’ notice
at the discretion of Prime Minister Najib Razak.
“A lot of this has to do with the dynamism of the chief
minister,” said Ong Kian Ming, a political analyst at UCSI
University in Kuala Lumpur and columnist for the Edge newspaper.
Lim has managed to keep Penang attractive for international
companies even as Najib focuses federal support on regions such
as Johor and Sarawak, where his ruling coalition has among its
biggest parliamentary-seat majorities.
Penang had 16 percent of the country’s approved foreign
manufacturing investment from 2006 to March this year,
government data show. The state, a tourist destination with
beach resorts and a colonial-era town designated as a United
Nations
World Heritage site, made up 8.1 percent of Malaysia’s
gross domestic product in 2009, based on constant prices.
“
The change in government meant that you have reenergized
this place,” said Chris Ong, who owns boutique hotels converted
from heritage buildings in Penang. “The old state government
was here for far too long.”
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