By Danial Dzulkifly
KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 – The Selangor government under the Pakatan Harapan (Harapan) leadership has made significant efforts to return the state’s wealth to the people through a variety of programmes and initiatives, says Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.
Disputing the claims made by his predecessor Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) opposition party, the Menteri Besar stated that the state had increased its spending on people-centric programmes under his administration.
“I would focus more on addressing economic accusations than getting into personal disputes. Our economic performance and the allocation of funds for public welfare are backed by data and records. I have spent more than him (Azmin) on public welfare and the numbers prove it.
“If you compared my term to him, he spent around RM1.3 billion to RM1.4 billion while we spent over RM2.3 billion. The number shows otherwise (opposite of his claims), only he is in denial by saying that he had spent more on public welfare,” said Amirudin in an interview with BFM’s Breakfast Grille this morning.
Recently, Azmin accused Amirudin of merely increasing the state’s reserve without returning the funds to the people through development spending, among other things.
Amirudin also responded that he finds it strange that Azmin supposedly agrees with Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s remarks that Selangor’s economic success is solely due to its proximity to Kuala Lumpur.
“Maybe the message was meant for me, but he is also denying the contribution of my predecessor (Azmin) and the late Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.
“Perhaps there is a subtext that Azmin didn’t understand. The words coming from Sanusi also undermined his (Azmin’s) performance. So if Azmin claps or applauded Sanusi for those remarks, then he denies his own contribution,” Amirudin said.
When asked about PN’s strategy for the upcoming state elections, which purportedly relies on the “greenwave” or growing discontent among the Malay electorate against the ruling Unity Government, Amirudin responded that Selangor voters are much more resilient towards such narratives.
As for the state ruling party, the Selangor Harapan chairman said his approach is to focus on the state’s achievements over the previous five years and what they intend to accomplish if given another term.
“Certainly, our experience and track record of the past 15 years in governing Selangor are presented to the public. We have successfully grown the state’s economy while implementing measures to redistribute wealth.
“We are proud to demonstrate that, at times, we even have surpassed the federal government in distributing resources and prioritising the welfare of the people. Our efforts can be seen through initiatives such as insurance schemes, educational programmes, and improvements in schools,” he said.
Amirudin cited the state’s Jelajah Ehsan Rakyat (JER) programme as an example, which offers discounted essential goods to the people and benefited close to four million Selangor residents since it was introduced last year.
Meanwhile, on the Harapan and Barisan Nasional (BN) cooperation, Amirudin said grassroots leaders in both coalitions had worked well together.
However, he acknowledged that there is still the issue of vote transferability between the two coalitions.
“I think this is the main issue we must tackle on both sides, BN and Harapan. So how do we convince our supporters? Based on our surveys, it appears that Harapan voters are more positive towards giving their vote to BN.
“On the other hand, there is still a high number of grey or undecided voters for both Harapan and BN,” he added.
Amirudin also dissuaded the argument that BN stands to be “baggage” for Harapan in Selangor by asserting that they are prepared to face these challenges and find a win-win outcome for both coalitions.
