The headline of my earlier letter Penang buses - poor service not state's fault might have given the impression that I was whitewashing the state government of its responsibility for the ghost-like bus system in Penang. This is not the case.

I merely wanted to highlight the fact that the authority for licencing and public transport financing is the jurisdiction of the federal government. This being the truth of the matter, how can Ong Boon Keong of SOS criticise the state government for 'surrendering' an authority they never actually possessed?

Having said this, the state government did have room for intervention. Spurred by NGOs vocalising the groundswell of public discontent, the Penang state exco made a surprisingly bold leap (painfully long overdue). Late last year, Dr Teng Hock Nam mooted the formation of a state -owned bus company that would seek licencing rights from the federal Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board.

This initiative, however, was aborted with the prime minister's announcement of his 'Chinese New Year gift to Penangites" - RapidPenang.

RapidPenang should be able to help the state surmount two huge hurdles - financial investment and expertise. To my knowledge, the Ministry of Finance is the owner of the buses and all related assets in KL while RapidKL manages and operates the bus service. If Putrajaya is going to provide the buses and expertise for Penang, then that's a very big 'ang-pow' indeed!

I advocate, in principle, more decentralisation in favour of the states in local affairs such as public transport. However, as things stand today, no one can actually predict who will do a better job - RapidPenang or the still-born state-owned enterprise. The urgent thing now is to get going on a job that's crying to be done.

I share the 'cautious optimism' of Cepat which is calling for more state participation in the running of the bus service under RapidPenang. We must get it right from the beginning. I also agree with Aliran's appeal to RapidPenang to not repeat its errors in the Klang Valley and its call to the central government to pay more attention to Penang city's well-being and to implement an integrated Public Transport Master Plan for Penang.

Cepat and Aliran's positions are constructive and in contrast to SOS's politico-demagogic position on the much-needed improvement of Penang's bus service. Yet all belong to the coalition of Cepat. Thank goodness Cepat's position is not that of SOS's.

I hope Athi Veranggan will overlook my somewhat harsh comments in my previous letter. However my criticism of Ong's political rhetoric stands , as his reply to my letter only proves my point.