Penang port sale a disaster, says DAP

'Syed Mokhtar’s purchase of the facility has thwarted the state’s projected growth into a vibrant regional economic hub.'

GEORGE TOWN: The sale of Penang port to tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary last December spelt economic disaster for Penang, DAP said today.

Liew Chin Tong, the MP for Bukit Bendera, lamented that Penang’s projected growth into a vibrant regional economic hub would now be thwarted.

This was the reason behind the state government’s bid to buy the port last year, he told newsmen here.

“The state government wanted to prevent a potential economic disaster to the state,” he said. The state failed in this bid when the federal government decided to sell the port to Syed Mokhtar.

Penang port was the biggest port in the region until 1933, when it was outpaced by the Singapore port.

Until the 1950s, Penang port was bigger than Port Klang. Johor did not have any port then. But now Syed Mokhtar wants to use Penang port as a feeder port for his Port Tanjung Pelepas in Johor.

Liew said it would be a great tragedy for Penang to see the port degenerate into a private feeder port for another private port.

Liew and his DAP colleague, Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi, have been trying to find out from Barisan Nasional what was happening to the proposal to give free port status to Penang. They have spoken privately to state BN chairman Teng Chang Yeow, and posed questions for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to answer in Parliament.

They hope to hear Najib’s reply at the next sitting of the Dewan Rakyat, scheduled to begin on June 11.

The free port proposal is in BN’s blueprint for Penang and will be acted upon only if the coalition regains the state in the next election. Teng has said Penang BN would take pro-active steps to restore the state’s free port status if it were to take over the government.

Penang was a free port until 1965, when the government began to remove that status in phases, completing the exercise in 1969.

Liew said BN should explain the economic viability of reinstating the free port status, including the number of jobs that would be created.

According to the 1964 Penang Master Plan, some 25,000 workers were dependant on free port status then.

“But that would not be the case now,” said Liew, noting that most jobs done manually by port workers in 1964 had been mechanised.