My Letter To PM Not Bribery, Says Koh

PENANG, March 4 (Bernama) -- Outgoing Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon has denied his confidential letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to offer a RM1 billion project to Motorola is an attempt to "bribe" the American telecommunications giant to continue its operations in the state.

In clarifying the issue for the first time, Dr Koh said he wrote to the prime minister to ask the federal government to reconsider its decision to award the contract to upgrade the existing communication system to another company due to technical reasons and in the interests of more than 10,000 jobs.

"We have being using the system provided by Motorola for the past 15 years. It's only natural we use the same provider and the system, if we want to upgrade it". "Moreover, Motorola has set up its world design centre in Penang, hiring 1,000 locals as designers. How are they going to market their product worldwide if our government decides to use other system," he told reporters at the Penang Gerakan headquarters.

Motorola has been using Malaysia for its marketing strategy for the two-way communication product worldwide particularly in the security Communication system.

Dr Koh, who is contesting in the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat in this Saturday's general election to move to federal leval, also said Motorola had invested RM5 billion over the past 15 years, providing economic spin-offs to small-and medium-sized industries.

In terms of tax revenue, he said, the government is expected to earn about RM1 billion in the next 10 years from the company.

"I believe I did the right thing in the interests of penangites. We are protecting 10,000 jobs here and 4,000 indirect suppliers and local companies in Penang and other states," he said.

Dr Koh said he was disappointed with the report carried by a website, which had spinned it negatively and was surprised such a confidential letter had leaked out. "I am calling for thorough investigations. I believe I did the right thing in the interests of the Penang people.

"If you read the letter, you will know what I mean," he said.

DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidates are harping on the Motorola issue to run down the BN government over what they termed as "poor performance in reviving the state economy."

A local portal, Malaysiakini, in its report two days ago, named the company as Motorola, which has a manufacturing facility in the Bayan Lepas Industrial Zone, after seeing a copy of the letter.

It claimed the three-page letter, dated Dec 3 last year, signed by Dr Koh was addressed to Abdullah, seeking the federal government’s "help" to retain Motorola in Penang.

-- BERNAMA