Questions from the public abound as to why this year's launch of the 9th MSC-ICT fair on Wednesday was held in Kepala Batas, a small township, about 40km north of Georgetown, Penang.

It's a month long celebration and showcase of Malaysian ICT achievements through a series of events including the Multimedia Super Corridor International Advisory Panel (MSC-IAP) meeting, exhibitions and conferences.

Held in the Dewan Millenium, Kepala Batas, the carnival which attracted thousands of people seem like an unlikely location when it was supposed to hear the announcement of another district on Penang Island as the first cyber city outside Cyberjaya.

In his speech at the launching, Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon told participants who included members of the 9th MSC-IAP that the "historical and meaningful event" was the selection of Bayan Baru as "Penang Cyber City I".

But Kepala Batas is merely the location of the launch of the information and Communications Techonolgy fair in conjunction with the MSC-IAP, said MSC Management service general manager (strategic sales) Azman Karib Ibrahim.

"It's not the location of the cyber city, which is the zone near Bayan Lepas," he told malaysiakini .

"I don't reckon you will see the likes of multi-national companies being located in Kepala Batas. No, they will be on Penang Island," he added.

So why is it being held in Kepala Batas?

More meaningful venue

A Bayan Baru resident who was present at the launch insisted that the event should have taken place in his area, which is in the heart of the island. The district also houses Universiti Sains Malaysia and is close to the Free Trade Zone and the Penang International Airport.

"It should had been launched in Bayan Baru as it would have been more meaningful then," said the first cyber city resident, who wanted to be known only as Hum Siang.

"It's quite clear that (Prime Minister) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wants to honour his Kepala Batas constituency and to garner support and win over more Malay votes," added Hum, who runs a cyber caf in Bayan Baru.

But the prime minister himself seemed to distance himself from any controversy arising from the choice of venue, explaining at the beginning of his speech that it was not his idea to organise the launch in Kepala Batas.

"It was a conspiracy between the Penang CM and the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (Dr Jamaludin Mohd. Jarjis)," he made light of the situation, evoking laughter from the crowd.

"Jamaludin and Tsu Koon are very happy that we have the event here," he added.

Kepala Batas, Pak Lah's hometown, was once a sleepy hollow. It is now seen as "the nerve centre" of future growth and development in the region and is part of the Penang Strategic Development Plan for the next decade.

How our MSC fares?

Meanwhile, there were also queries from the participants as to the popularity of the MSC.

Noorhazlina Abdul Aziz, a university student who hails from Kedah, asked if Malaysia's MSC is doing better than those in Singapore and India.

"I read that the two countries are really doing very well although they tarted their corridors much later than Malaysia," she said, when met at the fair.

"How many companies did we manage to attract to invest in our cyber city - that would show how popular we are?" she asked

Two companies - Penang State Development Corporation and Penang Invest - are the investment arms of the cyber city and up to August 2005, there are 1,200 MSC status companies in Malaysia, while only 58 are located in Penang.