I refer to the letter Careless granting of guarantees not this Penang's style .

I read with incredulity Jeffrey Chew’s acidic reply to Calvin Sankaran’s earlier criticism . I was shocked to read Chew’s strident tone for never in my 52 years of existence I have seen such venom and emotion from a public servant toward a public complaint.

In my view the response from Chew showed a lack of maturity and a worrying refusal to accept honest criticisms. It is indeed disturbing that Chew had resorted to making unsubstantiated accusations and personal attacks rather than rebutting point-by-point the issues brought up by the writer.

While DAP had been all these years had been subjecting the ruling government to scathing criticisms and attacks almost on a daily basis, it is rather perplexing why the party itself is displaying such hyper-sensitivity to constructive feedback from the public.

Coming back to the topic at hand, as a senior manager working in Penang’s high-tech industry, I am upset and aghast at the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s ill-conceived and illogical decision to recently turn down foreign direct investment worth RM10.2 billion. I fully concur with Sankaran’s comments and find his analysis is spot-on

Lim’s inexplicable action has been the hot talking point among my colleagues and others working the industry in Penang over the last few weeks not just in cafeterias and ‘mamak’ stalls but also in blogosphere.

Almost without exception, the professionals I know of feel that this is a highly disappointing move by the state government and a reflection of their inexperience and poor management skills. It is inconceivable that the previous administration under Koh Tsu Khoon, the techno-savvy and business-minded CM, would have allowed such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to slip away without trying their very best and exhausting all possible avenues.

Lim Kit Siang, the DAP’s senior advisor, called the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) as the ‘mother of all scandals’. In the same vein, his son’s decision could be also termed as the ‘mother of all blunders’.

In fact, while PKFZ’s investment can be recovered and turned around, this FDI issue has a far wider and longer-term impact on Penang. As stated by Sankaran, Lim has caused irreparable damage to the state’s image that will have severe consequences in the future.

This being a ‘flat world’, the news traveled far and wide and has managed to create an impression among the minds of potential investors that Penang has a severe shortage of engineers and that the state government is unwilling to find creative ways to find such talent in order to secure high-tech FDI.

We can assume that many potential investors will steer clear of Penang in the future and head to other states or even foreign countries that show far more hunger and initiative to fulfill their needs.

Lim is not just guilty of poor decision-making and incompetence, but he also trying to mislead Penangites by saying that Penang cannot guarantee those number of engineers and that he doesn’t want the state to be sued in case it can’t find the resources.

There is no country in the world, including the most advanced ones like the US, Japan, Korea and Germany, which can guarantee 1,000 experienced electrical and electronics engineers on the spot.

Nor an investor that needs all these engineers all at once at it takes time to build a plant, train the engineers and start the mass production and R&D. As such, the engineers will be hired in phases over several years.

Many of us in the Penang industry had been watching enviously how Johor, Sarawak and even Selangor have managed to keep getting FDI in high-tech sector while Penang has been lagging dangerously in the last 18 months.

This decision by the DAP government has come as a massive blow for the state and the Penagites in general. Surely, this decision instead of promoting ‘brain gain’ will hasten ‘brain drain’ further as demoralised Penangites head out to other states or even overseas in search for better employment.

As such, the honorable course of action for the chief minister is to admit his blunder, take responsibility and resign. He should pass the baton to someone who is better qualified and more capable to propel the state to a greater prosperity and brighter future. It doesn’t matter if the person is from PKR, PAS or DAP.