GEORGE TOWN, April 26 — The animosity between current Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow and his predecessor, Lim Guan Eng, will only harm the future potential of the state, former deputy chief minister II P. Ramasamy said today.

He said both Chow and Lim may not be on good terms but for the sake of Penang, they should sit together to think intelligently and wisely for the future of the state.

"Unfortunately, the present secretary general of the DAP, Anthony Loke Siew Fook, lacks the seniority, the experience and boldness to resolve once and for all the conflict between these two different senior political personalities,” he said in a statement today.

He was referring to criticisms Lim hurled at Chow recently for the "loss” of a multi-million ringgit integrated circuit (IC) design park to Selangor.

"The continuing feud is something that will work to the advantage of the Perikatan Nasional to take over Penang in the next general elections,” Ramasamy warned.

Joining in Lim's criticisms on the loss of the IC design park, he also said Penang's "unimaginative” leaders are a danger to the future of the state especially after losing the IC design project to Selangor.

"As a result of this loss, more companies have shown interest in investing in Selangor rather than Penang,” he said.

He claimed high-tech investments are moving to other states like Selangor and companies such as ARM Limited and Phison Malaysia are keen to invest in the Selangor IC design park.

"Companies that should have been attracted to Penang in the first place,” he said.

He said Chow is not an aggressive leader like Lim and administers the state on the basis of consultations and consensus.

"However, Chow’s too much reliance on the unimaginative civil servants and not so much on his political colleagues is not good for Penang in the long run,” he said.

"He had bungled on certain development projects in the past undertaken by the Penang Development Corporation (PDC),” he added.

With the state's land limitations, Ramasamy said the state administration needs to come up with bold and imaginative strategies to create and sustain a niche for itself.

"Penang might have lost out on the IC design project or in creating an IC Park, but there are more areas that Penang will lose out to other states in the future if the leadership remains entrapped in the comfort of bureaucracy,” he said.

He said this is the last term for Chow as chief minister so it is time for him to shed his nice guy approach and call for a major conference on future investments in Penang.

"A non-competitive Penang economy helmed by non-imaginative leaders is the biggest danger for the future of Penang,” he said.