I refer to the Malaysiakini report Koh defends Motorola deal .

To give huge contract to attract an outgoing multinational corporation (MNC) to not leave Penang is ridiculously ridiculous. Dr Koh Tsu Koon said it did this for the Penang folk. How true is that statement? In the letter, the main point he was trying to highlight to Pak Lah was how the pullout would have a very negative impact on the Barisan Nasional in just concluded election.

Yes, I agree that many will be out of jobs, but for the RM1 billion that you are going to give away to that MNC, you can actually put it in good use to build more infrastructure to rejuvenate Penang so that it will be able to attract more investors again in the future.

The question remains - why did that MNC decide to pull out? Because Penang has lost its competitive edge or for some other reason? You may able to keep one MNC from leaving this time by paying RM1 billion, but if other MNCs resort to the same tactic, how many billions of ringgit can the government offer to make sure those MNCs stay?

Money is not the remedy for MNCs to stay. All MNCs will eventually leave when the our country has lost its competitive edge with a half-past six government. For 40 years, Penang went from bad to worse under BN. Yes, there was a lot of development, but development is part of what a government should provide for its people.

You cannot count on bringing development to a certain state as a credit to the government, because that is their job. But failing to attract new investors and persuading old investors to stay on unwillingly is definitely a failure of a corrupt government.