Penang MCA has accused Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for his "poor governance" which led to investors leaving Penang, although state officials say the situation is not worrying.

State MCA deputy chairman Tan Teik Cheng said the situation of factories shutting down and relocating elsewhere have caused Penangites to suffer.

"Last week, well-known US based AMD announced the selling of its operations in Penang. Aren't all these signs a wake-up call for Penang's economy?" Tan asked in a statement.

According to him, AMD will be selling its assembly and testing operations to a China company and five percent of its staff will be retrenched globally.

"We can see that AMD doesn't want to stay in Penang anymore," Tan ( photo ) lamented.

"What are the factors that cause a company, which set up its plant in Penang since 1972, decide to pull out? Shouldn't Lim Guan Eng explain what is the reason behind this?" he asked.

Tan said the Penang industrial zone is facing much problems with multinationals like Western Digital moving to Kuala Lumpur, HGST Technologies closing down on March next year and moving to Johor, while Amphenol will shut down its Bayan Lepas plant and transfer all its operations to a China company.

Lim is not accepting the fact that foreign investors are withdrawing from Penang, he added.

"He only knows how to find excuses to cover the truth and deceive oneself as well as others," Tan said.

Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy has dismissed claims that Penang is facing an investment crisis, and urged the public not to panic or worry about the matter as the situation is not alarming.

Ramasamy, who is in charge of human resources, said Penang is prepared to face the situation when it happens as the state has an agency to find job replacements for jobless or retrenched workers.

State human resources liason committee chairperson Ajit Singh Jessy said the committee contacted the companies directly and found most of the allegations to be untrue.

For example, Western Digital is not moving to Kuala Lumpur, and Amphenol is only relocating its Penang island operations to China as all of its clients, except one is in Penang, he noted.

Can't retain existing investments

Meanwhile, Tan said another US-based company Fairchild Semiconductor is also planning to sell its plant in Bayan Lepas and this led to 1,000 losing their jobs.

Fairchild is a company with a long history and started operations in the 70s.

"What is the reason that makes all these most established players cannot stand with the state government anymore?" Tan asked.

He then cited Motorola Solutions as another example, where the plant is being sold to Sanmina.

According to Business Times , Motorola may lay off 25 percent of its total 3,000 workers.

"Motorola set up factory in 1974 and has recorded a total of RM4 billion as last year cumulative investment.

"Why Lim can't keep such big and established factories here?" he asked.

Tan said Lim can hardly absolve himself of the blame as he has failed to attract investors and cannot retain the existing investments.

"Lim's government not only failed to bring development, but the investment also has gone down the drain," he added.

According to Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) figures, Penang's investment has dropped 82 percent since 2010 to 2013, from RM10.4511 bil in 2010 to RM1.79439 bil in 2013 and its ranking has fallen from number one to number six.