The Penang state government has come under fire for failing to take cohesive steps to create more job opportunities for locals and tackle the problem of unemployment.

Although the state's unemployment rate, especially among graduates, has been steadily increasing since the 1997-financial crisis, the state government has failed miserably to exhaust all ways and means to resolve the problem, said an opposition leader.

If this continues, warned Penang DAP organising secretary Danny Law Heng Kiang, the state would face a serious social problem in future.

"Theft, fraud and domestic violence, among other things, would increase in near future if the state government fails to implement an aggressive and cohesive policy to reduce unemployment," he said.

Penang is estimated to have at least 10,000 unemployed people, largely from the industrial sector due to retrenchments, lack of jobs and business opportunities.

Nationwide, there are some 120,000 jobless people, including graduates, undergraduates, school leavers and, skilled and skilled workers.

Penang, which had nearly 200,000 factory workers in 2001, had only 150,000 workers in 2003.

Law said most factory workers became jobless due to retrenchments and voluntary separation schemes when their foreign employers shipped out their factory operations to other states and countries, such as China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Lagging behind

He said the shifting by factories clearly revealed that the state could not compete with others in providing a top class investment climate for investors.

He said the state lacked behind others in infrastructure, facilities, incentives, skilled workers trained in vocational and technical fields, and even in capacity of port and airport.

New foreign investments in the state dropped from RM4.6 billion in 1999 to RM1.4 billion in 2003 and only RM1 billion in 2004.

Once at the pole position on the country's foreign investment chart, Penang is now behind Johor, Federal Territory, Selangor, Malacca and Sarawak. Soon it is expected to fall behind Kedah.

The rapid decrease in new investments and re-investments, besides investments by local companies abroad, had reduced employment and business opportunities in the state.

Penang Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy chairperson Cheah Kah Peng attributed the down slide to the state government's lack of innovative and cohesive policies to promote the Penang to woo investors.

"Who can blame foreigners when even local companies are investing abroad, not in Penang. The state is unable to compete at international investment market," he aid.

CM to be blamed

He blamed Umno's political domination, Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon's weak leadership and poorly management government for the problems.

"For the past 15 years, Koh's government policies have been submissive to fulfill the selfish political goals of Umno. The freeze on the proposed 2nd bridge project and lack of funds to upgrade roads and other infrastructure system shows that the Umno-dominated federal government had neglected the state.

"This makes Penang less attractive to foreign investments, thus denying employment for locals," he said.

The state government's lack of emphasis in providing the right training and retraining at the right time for human resources development had badly affected Penang's capability in competing with other countries, such as Taiwan and Thailand, in providing skillful manpower, especially in vocational and technical fields.

He said time was running out on the state government to implement aggressive and progressive policies to attract local and foreign investors.

Otherwise, he warned that the state would face draining out of highly skilled workers to other employment markets, both domestic and abroad.

"It's time for the state government to brush aside Umno's political manipulation and act fast to save the people of Penang," said Cheah.

ATHI VEERANGGAN is malaysiakini 's Penang-based stringer.