By Danial Dzulkifly
SHAH ALAM, July 26 – State Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari has stressed the importance of having both the Selangor and federal administrations led by parties aligned with the Unity Government to ensure a smooth post-pandemic economic recovery.
Recalling his experience leading Selangor while the federal government was under the auspices of Perikatan Nasional (PN), Amirudin said there were difficulties in streamlining efforts from both parties due to political differences.
“Of course, both administrations from different political coalitions will say that we can work together professionally, but in my experience, that was not the case when I was leading Selangor as an opposition state (when PN was in federal power).
“For example, the Selangor Economic Action Council that was formed during the pandemic was headed by a federal minister (from PN) instead of the menteri besar, when the latter should have been the case,” said Amirudin, referring to then Senior Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali who led the meetings.
Amirudin was speaking at Studio Madani’s Sembang Katup Pintu podcast last night, where he discussed current affairs, the state of politics and the achievements of his administration.
He further explained that a similar situation occurred when the [then] opposition won Selangor in 2008 and 2013, where certain public projects were not approved by the federal government then due to political differences.
Pointing to a good example of cohesion, Amirudin cited the comprehensive state water deal signed in 2019 to make Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd the sole concessionaire to manage water supply services in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
This deal was a result of the state and federal governments being from the same political coalition, said Amirudin.
“The water deal started during the late Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s tenure, continued during Azmin’s time, and was finally completed during my stint.
“Why was that the case? Both the state and federal governments were from the same coalition,” he said.
Moving forward, Amirudin stressed that cohesion between both federal and state governments is crucial to ensuring the success of major state projects such as the Sabak Bernam Development Area, Southern Selangor Integrated Regional Development and Selangor Maritime Gateway.
“We have all these projects that aim to uplift the state economy and subsequently aid the national economic recovery.
“But if there is no proper cohesion between the state and federal governments, then it will affect the recovery of the national economy,” he said.
