Embattled Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon has received another blow over his taking credit for Penang's recent economic successes, this time from former Penang party stalwart, Lee Kah Choon.

NONE Lee, who is Invest Penang chairperson, said that Koh may be "sleep talking" when the latter said that investment decisions takes time to be made, implying that he was responsible for the state's current economic success.

Lee ( left ), who was former Gerakan Jelutong MP, said that it was "ridiculous" to suggest that investment decision takes years to make in this modern age.

"By then the technology will be obsolete, the product will not fit into the supply chain for the overall manufacturing process.

"(Taking years to make a decision) is against the Just In Time (JIT) philosophy the manufacturing world is practising currently," he said in a press statement today.

"All in all, if any deal is to be struck, it will be done within12 months," he added.

Yesterday, an online news site quoted Koh accusing Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for "unfairly" claiming credit that should be rightly attributed to Barisan Nasional.

Koh, the four term Penang CM prior to 2008, complained that the "solid foundation" of various projects initiated by his administration was handed over to Lim when Pakatan Rakyat took over the state.

He blamed his successor for “skilfully using” the media to claim credit for the success handed down from the former Gerakan administration.

Mida claim ‘erroneous’

Meanwhile, Lee has also dismissed Koh's claim that the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida) had taken up to five years to decide on incentives for potential investors.

Lee, who relinquished all party posts following the 2008 polls, said that Koh's suggestion that Mida was indecisive in making incentive decisions was both "erroneous and unfair".

"It is novel for me to learn that Mida takes up to five years to make a decision on incentives to be given to potential investors," said Lee.

"The Mida that Invest Penang is working with makes decisions in weeks, and not years," he quipped.

In 2010, Penang's total capital investments in manufacturing projects of RM12.24 billion shot up nearly five times compared to RM2.17 billion the previous year.

Up till May this year, Mida statistics indicated that Penang was second only to Selangor by achieving RM4.49 billion in approved manufacturing projects, or just below RM4.74 billion, the amount Selangor received for the same period.

International business magazine, The Economist, in its recent issue carried an article titled ‘Malaysia's Penang state - Getting back its mojo’, which touched on the state reinventing itself in the industrial sector after Pakatan Rakyat took over the state government in 2008.

Lim's detractors had responded immediately alleging that the Penang government had paid the international magazine for the positive article.

Lee said so far there has not been any known investor withdrawing from Penang after the recent change in government.

"On the other hand, there are big investors returning to Penang, or increasing their investment into Penang after the fall of the previous indecisive government," he said.