Selangor's achievements refute claims that the state's economy is in retrograde, says Amirudin

SHAH ALAM – Throughout the five years under the Pakatan Harapan administration in Selangor, the state government has been tested with multiple issues including political crises, the Covid-19 pandemic and one of the worst floods in recent years.

However, under the leadership of Dato Menteri Besar Selangor Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, the state government swiftly dealt with the challenges and Selangorians resumed life as per usual within a short period.

Amirudin, in an exclusive interview with Sinar, said that economic achievement could be seen through reports from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) which showed Selangor as one of the largest contributors to the gross domestic product (GDP) at the national level.

The GDP in the state has shown an increasing trend since he was appointed the Menteri Besar in 2018, with 5.3 per cent growth in 2021 and 11.9 per cent in 2022.

"First of all, this state cannot leave the economic debate; in fact, the Selangor economy now shows its ability and capability from a test-proof angle.

"From 23.7 per cent in 2018, there was a continuous increase when it hits 24 per cent for the first time in 2019, 24.8 per cent in 2021 and as expected, it had gone beyond 25 per cent last year,” he said during the interview.

Selangor’s financial reserve in 2022 had also hit RM3.7 billion, which was the highest in history which proved an excellent financial management by the administration.

"The figures refute claims and attempts (by others) who said that our economy is in retrograde and not developed as the achievements, followed by other figures such as job opportunities, and investments in the state for the past five years proved otherwise.

On top of that, the former Sungai Tua state legislative assemblyman also said that he would continue to make Selangor a pressing topic in the economic debate field after successfully demonstrating its ability as a state that can withstand being tested during his administration.

"Although we are not the overall champion in terms of the number of investments, we are always ahead in terms of the amount of workforce offered, which was over 89,000 job opportunities," he said.

The Gombak Member of Parliament also said that the state had shown its capabilities in handling the unprecedented pandemic as well as the livelihood of the people post-pandemic.

For the last five years of leading the state, Amirudin said that in terms of economy, he believed that it was Selangor's responsibility to remain the first and if it was not, it would impact the country's recovery or economic achievement.

Under his helm, the state government was also focused on welfare programmes for the people.

"The numbers do not lie. Throughout five years administration of the state, we spent more than RM2.3 billion for welfare programmes which comprises (Program Bantuan) Anak Istimewa Selangor, Back to School programme, programme for university students and we also have Bitara Yayasan Selangor programme (Bitara) as well as 'Tuisyen Rakyat' programme (which offers free tuition classes for SPM students) with over 65,000 students now compared to only 6,000 the previous semesters," he said.

The state government also introduced a new programme now enjoyed by over 9,000 e-hailing riders under the 'Inisiatif Roda Darul Ehsan' (RIDE).

Amirudin said the administration also amended the 'Skim Mesra Usia Emas' (SMUE), where senior citizens were given RM150 shopping vouchers a year compared to RM100 last year.

"Although we did not give RM2,500 (funeral expenses as given by the previous administration), it is now RM500 which has been used as a 'weapon' by our opponents, but actually we give them RM150 a year and it is form of appreciation to the elderly," he said,

Aside from that, the state government has also proved its capabilities of handling challenging crises including the Covid-19 pandemic.

Amirudin said Selangor had purchased about 1.1 million vaccines and about 700,000 of the vaccines were given for free to Selangorians.

"I do not think any other states could purchase the vaccines and give it for free for the people. In Parliamentary reports, several states bought between 5,000 and 20,000 vaccines.

"In fact, we even gave 5,000 free vaccines to Penang," he said.

In 2021, Selangor faced another hiccup when floods inundated several areas in the state but Amirudin said the situation was back to normal in just two weeks.

"The floods tested the capabilities of the state's team, and civil servants but there was a team spirit from the MB, excos and the state assemblymen.

"I personally went down (on the ground), slept on the field, and surveyed the garbage dumps to see for myself the report of how many tonnes of garbage we removed.

"We had removed more than a thousand tonnes of garbage in two weeks, compared to others who needed a week to remove 100 tonnes," he said.

"It was a valuable experience and if we manage to deploy our assets as a team, I believe that we will achieve something greater," he said.

Amirudin said the crisis showed how swiftly and laser-focused the government was in dealing with the flood issue, from the search and rescue process to a large-scale cleaning programme.

Here are the lists of achievements for Selangor under Amirudin’s leadership: