SPEECH BY YAB TUAN CHOW KON YEOW

 CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG

PENANG STATE RECOGNITION DINNER IN CONJUNCTION WITH 50^TH ANNIVERSARY OF PENANG'S INDUSTRIALISATION

2 December 2022

Setia SPICE Convention Centre, Penang

 

YBhg Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon

Former Chief Minister of Penang

YB Tuan Lim Guan Eng

Former Chief Minister of Penang and Member of Parliament for Bagan

Honourable Members of the Penang State Executive Council

His Excellency Dr. Joachim Bergstrom, Ambassador of Sweden to Malaysia

His Excellency Mr. Zhou Youbin, Consul-General of China in Penang

His Excellency Mr. Kawaguchi Yoshiyasu, Consul-General of Japan in Penang

Honourable Members of the Penang State Legislative Assembly and Members of Parliament

Representatives from the Australian High Commission and the French Embassy in Malaysia

YBhg Dato’ Seri Lee Kah Choon

Special Investment Advisor to the Penang Chief Minister & Organising Committee Chairperson for the 50^th Anniversary of Penang's Industrialisation Celebration

YBhg Dato’ Aziz bin Bakar

CEO of Penang Development Corporation & Organising Co-Deputy Chairperson

 

 

YBhg Dato’ Loo Lee Lian

CEO of InvestPenang & Organising Co-Deputy Chairperson

Mr. and Mrs. Lim Chien Ch’eng

 

Penang state officials and heads of government agencies

Captains of industry

Distinguished guests

Organising Committee members

Members of the press

Ladies & gentlemen

Good evening to all of you.

Welcome to the state recognition dinner, held in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Penang’s industrialisation. 2022 is certainly a year of great celebration for Penang as it signifies the success of our transformation journey over the last five decades.

Driven by both the manufacturing and service industries, Penang is the economic powerhouse of the country, buoyed by its robust ecosystem. With half a century of industrialisation in its DNA, Penang has navigated numerous up and down cycles, and has emerged stronger from each.

On the trade front, I am pleased to share that Penang’s export is on a long-term upward trend. In 2002, Penang’s export value was RM108 billion. Despite the Global Great Recession in 2007-2009, Penang’s annual exports resiliently stood at RM152-RM164 billion during the said period. Fast forward to 2020, Penang’s export broke the RM300 billion mark for the first time, followed by an all-time-high performance of RM354 billion in 2021. 2022 is undoubtedly another record-breaking year as we have achieved RM374 billion worth of exports in the first ten months. Importantly, over the past five years, Penang contributed an average 29% of Malaysia’s export, and 58% of the nation’s trade surplus.

The vibrant industry in Penang was not an overnight occurrence but a culmination of strategic planning and execution, both by the government and private sectors. The convergence of public-private-people partnership which enabled sustained growth and productivity in Penang, also laid the groundwork for Penang to unlock limitless potential.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the stakeholders in driving Penang towards these successes. Moving forward, Penang pledges to make great strides in further enhancing our ecosystem. This include the readiness of physical and digital infrastructure, availability of talent and uplifting of liveability stature, all of which are critical to maintain our status as the Economic Powerhouse of Malaysia and the Silicon Valley of the East.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Talent

 

The strong influx of investments into Penang would require healthy talent pipeline development strategies. For this agenda, our goal is to attract 150,000 knowledge workers to Penang over the next 5 years. The state will continue to promote My Penang, My Workplace via multi-pronged channels to uphold our “live-work-play’ lifestyle.

What the State has done so far includes the following:

Penang Future Foundation (PFF), a State Government scholarship initiative for outstanding Malaysian students in the fields of STEM, Accountancy and Finance, in public and private universities locally. I’m pleased to share that as of December 2021, 655 students have benefitted from this scholarship programme. In fact, many of you here are employers of the PFF scholarship recipients as these scholars are required to work in Penang as part of the scholarship’s terms and conditions. It is also critical to highlight that the PFF scholarship award is now entering its 9^th year and to keep this exceptional programme afloat for the benefit of many more students down the road, I humbly implore captains of the industry and everyone here to generously contribute towards our PFF programme. It takes a village to raise a child, and every Ringgit received in support of PFF goes a long way in giving our youths from low and middle-income backgrounds, a fighting chance for a better future.

 

Penang Internship Subsidy Programme (PISP) that offers qualified local companies monthly wage subsidy for internship enrolment as well as providing accommodation for the interns. To date, 356 interns have been recruited under this programme and I am proud to share that the state will double the fund allocation of PISP to RM1 million in 2023.

Last month, the state launched Penang GBS Industry Academy (PGIA) as an avenue to nurture a future proof and digitally-skilled workforce. Focusing on courses and skillsets related to the digital economy, PGIA is a joint effort among InvestPenang, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Penang GBS Focus Group and Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC).

Meanwhile, Penang Career Assistance and Talent Centre (Penang CAT Centre) via InvestPenang, together with Penang Youth Development Corporation continue in the role of promoting Penang as the choice of location for career development. Various initiatives under the Penang Women’s Development Corporation have also been caried out to increase women’s participation in labour force.

Cultivating STEM interests among the young generations is also firmly on the state’s priority list. In 2023, nearly RM2.2 million will be allocated to Tech Dome, Penang Science Cluster, Penang STEM and Penang Math Platform. On this note, I ask for more industry support and partnership for our STEM initiatives to help cultivate industry-ready talent pool in this fast-paced environment.

Infrastructure

 

In terms of infrastructure, the development of industry parks, telco, public transport, water supplies, are all on the state’s radar to support the industry’s long-term growth.

  

Led by PDC, 3 new industrial parks are identified, namely Bandar Cassia Technology Park, Penang Science Park and Batu Kawan Industrial Park 3 with a combined available land total of over 800 acres. The land development will be in stages and part of it has come on stream since January this year. On a separate note, the state government is pleased to announce the granting of a premium discount for the extension of 'leasehold' period for land owners. For industrial lands, owners are eligible for 50-75% discount, subject to fulfilling the criteria set by the state government.

On the telco infrastructure, the state is working closely with Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) on 5G network implementation which started since the second quarter of this year. A total of 151 locations on the Penang Island have been identified to be equipped with 5G infrastructure this year. Under the phase 2 plan, 5G implementation will involve 312 locations, of which, 235 locations will be at Seberang Perai.

On public transport, in 2022, the state government spent RM11.5 million on 4 main programs, namely, My50 Mutiara Pass, Congestion Alleviation Transport (CAT) free buses, KOMTAR Bridge Express Shuttle Transit (BEST) buses and subsidies on ferry fares. In 2023, the state government will allocate RM14 million on public transport to encourage public transport usage.

Meanwhile, the state plans to improve the infrastructure of EV charging stations. MBPP has identified 8 EV charging locations, which will be free of charge for the users. 

Separately, Penang will continue to upgrade our water supply infrastructure and find additional raw water sources to support the usage of both industries and consumers.

Ladies and gentlemen

Supporting SMEs and investment facilitation

 

Penang’s conducive environment has not only led the country in attracting FDIs, but also created more and more success entrepreneurs, who have found and built companies that have grown to become internationally renowned. I am hopeful that Penang could create more world-class entrepreneurs via the state’s various initiatives for SMEs.  

Organising ‘Supplier Day’ that bridges MNCs and local companies, listing SMEs on InvestPenang’s directory and business matching opportunities are among the state’s initiatives to promote supply chain localisation. In addition, SME Market Advisory and Resource & Training (S.M.A.R.T Centre) constantly provides advisory services and capacity building workshops to SMEs. Subsidised rental rates in the SME Centre are also being offered to the qualified SMEs, thereby reducing the cost of doing business in Penang.

As part of the state’s effort to encourage tech start-ups, Penang i4.0 Seed Fund is established to assist start-ups with innovative technology products and services to scale. Since its inception in 2018, RM5 million were awarded to 49 start-ups in the country.

 

Smart initiatives

 

The State remained committed in the digitalisation agenda in transforming Penang into an international smart city. In Dec 2021, the state government launched the Penang Smart State Document Agenda. To date, 107 smart initiatives have been or going to be carried out by the state government.

Just to name a few, Penang’s SMART initiatives included Penang Smart Parking which is Malaysia’s first IoT-enabled Parking Systems, e-payment systems at state office and agencies, integrated online land administration and management system, CCTV system with video analytics capability across the state for security purpose. In 2023, a grant of RM4.5 million will be allocated as part of the state’s effort on realising digitisation agenda.

ESG

 

The rising momentum in Penang’s ESG agenda is clear. I am pleased to see that a growing number of companies jump on the sustainability bandwagon, making true commitments to environmental stewardship, social inclusivity and ethical governance. This is greatly attested by more companies gaining international sustainability accreditation, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) and Green Building Index (GBI) certifications, among others. To make Penang a green state, a total of 441,000 trees have been planted throughout the state since 2008, which translates to a carbon reduction of 100,000 tons. Proudly, Penang always top the nation in terms of recycling rate. In 2021, Penang’s recycling rate was 51% and we target to increase it to 70% by 2030. The accolades of Penang’s capital, George Town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Penang Hill as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve speak volume on the state’s efforts in reserving our culture and environment.

On social inclusivity, we aspire to be a welfare state in protecting and promoting the economic and social well-being of our people. The Penang state government also puts our principle of “Competency, Accountability and Transparency” governance into practice.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to stress that the Penang state government pledged to be the leader, the enabler and the propeller by offering a competent platform for players across different industries to participate and thrive. At the same time, we will continue to listen and work closely with all the stakeholders to march forward, making Penang a location of choice to work-live-play and invest.

This has been quite a long speech by any standard. Although more things have been left out than said, it is my humble attempt to try and encapsulate everything that Penang has achieved in recent years in a matter of minutes.  With five decades under our belt and holding on to the tagline for Penang’s 50th anniversary of industrialisation, “50 years of Excellence and Beyond”, I am sure as excited as all of you here to witness the dawn of our next journey.

Let us work together in making new footprints on this landscape that offers enormous prospect for value creation, and for Penang to emerge stronger and to shine brighter in the global arena for many, many more years ahead.

My best wishes to all and have an enjoyable evening. Thank you.