Lim may be 'not-so-smart' CM but certainly smarter than 'not-so-smart' Koh!

Penang Gerakan has continued to taunt Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng over his announcement that BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (Rim) is planning to set up a manufacturing plant in the state.

In doing so, the party's deputy secretary Goh Kheng Sneah claimed he has been vindicated for questioning Lim's announcement, as it was recently revealed that Rim is merely considering a local outsourcing partner when International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) secretary-general Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria had clarified that Rim has not set up a manufacturing facility in Malaysia but was considering a local outsourcing partner.

Goh (right) said, "Outsourcing and building a plant are two different things. Miti's clarification shows that I was speaking the truth and Lim was lying, Either Lim has cheated the people or he is not so smart. But he still wants to keep silent on the matter and had assigned his special investment officer Jeffrey Chew to comment about the issue. Lim needs to respond to this issue personally. I don't know what Chew was talking about as he has no idea about the matter."

CM's response

Lim said the announcement of the BlackBerry venture had been published in the press and announced by a federal government officer and he had used the term "manufacturing smartphone" but that Goh had twisted his words.

Lim (left) said, "When we talk about the old business model, we usually mention 'plant', but the new business model involves outsourcing, -meaning, another company is asked to manufacture the phones and in this case, they are doing it in Penang, This has even been verified by the Indonesian embassy official, who said that the phone is being manufactured here because it is more competitive in Malaysia.”

Lim declined to comment on the actual investment, saying it would be more appropriate for the company involved to make the announcement and noted that there are news reports indicating that Indonesia plans to take action against BlackBerry for outsourcing its manufacturing to Penang, but that Gerakan is still asking "where is the plant?"

Lim added, saying, "Gerakan is very dishonest to (mix) politics with business. If they want to attack the state government, please do so with facts, not lies.”