Ekonomi Pulau Pinang merosot di bawah Lim Guan Eng

Magika

--> tahun 2012, pelaburan di Pulau Pinang merosot 72%. Pulau Pinang jatuh dari no 1 ke destinasi no 6 pelaburan di Malaysia

--> Dibandingkan 2013 dan 2010, pelaburan Sarawak dan Johor meningkat 140% dan 86%. Tetapi Penang pula merosot 69%

--> Pelabur hi tech tidak berminat lagi melabur di Pulau Pinang... tahun 2013 yang main bukak kilang pun kilang jus dan kilang candies



Losing its mojo: Penang’s fading fortunes


Over the last four decades Penang had transformed itself from a sleepy backwater to one of the world’s most important high-tech electronics manufacturing hubs. The state’s visionary Chief Ministers, by sheer force of determination and single-minded focus, had turned Penang a global industrial powerhouse.

To understand the importance of the manufacturing industry to Penang, consider these statistics for 2013 – it comprised 49% of the state’s GDP and provided employment to 30% of the total labour force. The role of Penang in the global supply chain is highly critical too, any interruption to Penang’s manufacturing output will have a catastrophic impact on the global high tech supply chain.

The first wave of Penang’s industrialisation involved mainly simple assembly operations. While the second wave saw the state graduate to higher-value added and more technologically sophisticated activities such as Research & Development (R&D) and design as well as cutting-edge industrial sub-sectors such as LED, biotech, etc.

When Penang rocketed to the No 1 position investment ranking among the Malaysian states in 2010 and 2011 for the first time, there was much elation and optimism. With the ushering in of the new administration under Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in 2008, expectations were high that it would herald a new era of prosperity and development. Penangites were convinced the state would finally catch up with its more successful rivals Singapore and Hong Kong.

However what transpired was the exact opposite – the state’s fortunes taking a drastic plunge with its future looking increasingly bleak and uncertain. Penang’s investment ranking also has fallen off the cliff with the state desperately struggling to maintain its attractiveness and competitiveness even among its fellow Malaysian states.

While other states have grown by exponentially, Penang has bucked this trend and underperformed badly. Worryingly the state leadership looks unfocused, bereft of ideas or concrete plan to steer the state out of the choppy waters it found itself in.

2012 had been a truly annus horribilis for Penang as far as investment concerned. It saw a shocking and unprecedented 72% drop in investment amount received. The state also tumbled from No 1 to a lowly No 6 position in the ranking. Only domestic investment into the state’s over-inflated housing sector kept Penang from dropping to the very bottom of the ranking table.

As such Penangites were naturally hoping 2013 would see the state shaking off its poor performance and recovers its rightful place – at the top of the investment ranking. Unfortunately the state’s investment performance in 2013 neither shows signs of recovery nor inspires much confidence that it would be in the future. In fact the data seemed to indicate larger issues looming on the horizon and pointing to systemic and structural problems.

Despite the nation receiving the highest amount of investment ever in 2013, Penang’s performance was a huge disappointment. The state performed poorly and finished a distant No 4, barely edging out Sabah. It received RM3.9 billion in investment, a puny amount compared to Johor (RM14.4 billion), Selangor (RM9.8 billion) and Sarawak (RM8.3 billion).

While the investment amount received last year did show a slight improvement compared to the year before, it was hardly something to be proud off. This is because using 2012 data as a benchmark for comparison is rather inappropriate as that year (2012) was the nadir as far as investment is concerned. A better comparison would be the year 2010.

When we compare 2013 investment with 2010 data the result is shocking – a massive 69% drop. On the other hand, Sarawak’s and Johor’s investment performances improved by a whopping 140% and 86% respectively for the same period.

Analysing the investment data further unveils even more serious strategic and long term concerns. For example, most of the investment (64%) in 2013 consisted of re-investments by existing companies, especially one particular MNC. Needless to say such over-reliance on a single investor is both unwise and risky.

New investments made up a mere 36% which puts Penang at the position No 7 for new investment received. This statistics is highly significant as it is a far more accurate indicator on the attractiveness as an investment destination. In this ranking Penang lagged behind minnows such as Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Sabah.

Apart from these hard statistics, anecdotal evidence, personal observations and feedback from the industry in Penang also support the fact the manufacturing industry is in a state of steep downward trajectory. This can be seen from a few key trends that had been shaping up in the state in the last few years.

First, there has been an increase in retrenchments, scaling down of operations and even plant closures. Despite CM’s statement about Penang having a shortage of workers, in reality these jobs are mostly low-paying and low-value added positions that no Malaysians would be interested in.

Secondly, Penang is no longer the magnet that attracts top tier high tech companies to invest in the state. The fact that the Top 5 investments in 2013 for Penang featured two juice and candies factories illustrates this point rather painfully.

Thirdly, high-paying technical and management jobs creation has completely dried up. This has led to many high-calibre senior professionals and fresh graduates moving to other destinations such as Kedah, KL, Johor or even Singapore. In fact ‘brain drain’ is one of the biggest dangers facing Penang today.

So does this mean it is too late for Penang to reverse the downward trend and re-invent itself? In my opinion there is still a small window of opportunity for Penang to arrest this decline and put itself back on the growth track. However this requires a strong and decisive leadership. So what are required of the state government to re-ignite and re-start the forward momentum?

First and foremost, the state leadership must to come up with a strategic industrial master plan for Penang. This plan should be a comprehensive document that includes the sectors that the state wants to focus on and details how this would be achieved. This plan shouldn’t be a mere wish list but a realistic, well-thought master plan takes consideration of the state’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the external macro factors.

The previous administrations had been very successful in economic management because they had a very clear vision, excellent strategy and comprehensive deployment plan added with a strong ability to execute. However, Lim’s administration failed to come up with such plan so the state’s current poor performance comes as no surprise.

Secondly, the state must be more committed and serious about attracting investment. The CM had made numerous investment trips overseas but the success rate has been close to zero. It is not hard to understand why the investment deals have been elusive. Very often these trips were poorly planned as the destinations visited offered few viable investors.

More worryingly too the main objectives of these visits seemed to politics and public relations with attracting investments seemly added as a sideshow. Almost all overseas visits by CM Lim invariably involved delivering political speeches to overseas Malaysians/Malaysian students, granting interviews to foreign media or talks to foreign audience on how successful the CM and DAP had been in managing the state. In order to secure investment deals, Penang must cease prioritising politics over investment and come up with smarter, more targeted investment planning and missions.

Thirdly, the state needs to staff key positions in state agencies interfacing with investors with highly qualified and experienced professionals. While the state has been talking up its meritocratic policies and credentials, in reality the situation on the ground is anything but. Since 2008 many key positions have been filled by politicians or persons with strong political connections. This not only affected the state’s ability to attract investment but also created much friction, mistrust and misalignment with federal agencies such as MIDA. All state officials, from the CM downwards, must also learn to collaborate rather than confront the federal agencies in order to bring in FDI to Penang.

Finally, the state urgently needs to address quality of life issues. The rampant over-development, the sky-high property prices, environmental degradation, traffic congestion, poor public transportation, crumbling infrastructure and a long list of issues are making Penang look bad in the eyes of existing and potential investors.

Penang should not attempt to turn itself into another Singapore or Hong Kong though it certainly can learn much useful lessons from them. However, it seems that the state has imported and copied the bad instead of best practices from the two city states.

Deploying these proposals requires strong leadership and a large dose of political will. It is certainly within the ability of CM Lim and his team to arrest this decline in Penang’s competitiveness. The question remains whether the state government is willing to admit its mistakes, reverse its failed policies and strategies and act quickly and decisively.

munchkin

It is ok no problem

highcastle

Nak tunggu cina penang C.I. beri ulasan..

perang_candu

abis la. cina penang bakal merempat.. jual nasik berlaok

wiseguy

Johor naik sah sebab beli tanah kat iskandar....

Patut seronok ke kalau sebab tu

chaintea

Aww..sedihnyaaa

petola

ntah apa agaknya jawapan guan eng ya..

berpolitik lebih2 sgt..

xAthenax

masih lebih kaya dari negeri jiran2 dia

hyie

iols dok penang aman2 jah siap ada second bridge lagi tawww...korang hade? So far tak dengar plak kilang2 buang pekerja secara paksa, macam kes sebelum PRU13 hari tu...

pakweneelofa

ekonomi diukur dengan pelaburan?? bagaimana pula degan pengeluaran?? hehehe..pelaburan2 ni makanan anak abah kepala botak keturunan mamak

Leonarzi

Lim guan eng done nothing to pulau pinang

pyropura

....behind minnows such as Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Sabah.

nugeri2 BN yang dapat title minnows cacai tak concern plak....Pineng jugak diratip...

pyropura

Leonarzi posted on 23-4-2014 10:29 PM
Lim guan eng done nothing to pulau pinang

...exactly, it was Tsu Koon who did so many THINGS for Pineng, especially chasing the Malays out of their land under the watcful eyes of the Umengoks...and he was later awarded Tan Sri....hidop cina jinak Umeno...

Kelipah Guan eng did nothing...

pyropura

pakweneelofa posted on 23-4-2014 10:27 PM
ekonomi diukur dengan pelaburan?? bagaimana pula degan pengeluaran?? hehehe..pelaburan2 ni makanan a ...

cacai  mana tau bebende tu semua, janji keluar figures yang besar  kat Utusucks/Tibi3suku...

lavaknows

pyropura posted on 23-4-2014 10:41 PM
cacai  mana tau bebende tu semua, janji keluar figures yang besar  kat Utusucks/Tibi3suku...:lau ...

lu pulak tak tau fiskal keluar negera dgn erpot tax tu dua benda yang berlainan...

sib baik wa yg pandai serba serbi ni sekolahkan lu....

cucumberkl

Sib baik Sabah ngn Perlis Be End pegang kalu tak lg teruk dr Penang

pyropura

kengkawan semua, ada orang kata dia pandai kat 15#, kengkawan tanak belajar ke...

@dino

dino

pyropura posted on 23-4-2014 10:51 PM
kengkawan semua, ada orang kata dia pandai kat 15#, kengkawan tanak belajar ke...

@dino

pandai sgt.... tempek utube pun tak reti....

pyropura

dino posted on 23-4-2014 10:57 PM
pandai sgt.... tempek utube pun tak reti....

ooo iya kaaa?? ya ampuuunn...parah banget tuh   

nama bukan main @lavaknows ....knows nothing....

totokreturn

petola posted on 23-4-2014 10:16 PM
ntah apa agaknya jawapan guan eng ya..

berpolitik lebih2 sgt..

bang pet.. dia petik penang, nanti dia petik selangor sedang 2 negeri mmg perindustrian yg sebenarnya membuka pekung pemerintah pusat yg pelabur2 dah banyak lari ke luar kerana ketidakstabilan ekonomi negara disamping dihimpit tekanan ekonomi dalam yg semakin teruk yg membuatkan pelabur yg sediaada lari dan pelabur baru melihat trend kebodohan kepimpinan negara menekan hidup rakyat semakin meruncing ditambah penggantungan sepenuhnya kepada tenaga luar seperti indonesia, vietnam, bangla yg berleluasa baik pelabur gi negara2 berikut ajer yg sudah tentu kos lebih murah dan cukai yg tak giler2 macam malaysia nih....

nampak kan...