PKR leaders back MB after Azmin questions Selangor govt's performance

 

PKR leaders have come out swinging against former Selangor menteri besar Azmin Ali, following his criticism of the state government’s performance after he left office in 2018.

Azmin, who led a string of defections from PKR causing the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government in 2020, claimed the state’s economic performance plummeted since his time.

Despite not going to the polls alongside the general election expected next month, the PKR-led Selangor government’s performance is a bellwether for the party's ability to govern.

This has likely prompted three PKR leaders to back incumbent Menteri Besar Amirudin Saari, through three separate statements, to show how the Selangor government has performed better after Azmin (above) left.

One indicator, said Selangor PKR information chief Halimey Abu Bakar, is the state’s reserve, which grew under Amirudin’s watch.

Halimey said when Azmin came into office in 2014 following Khalid Ibrahim, the reserves were RM3.2 billion but when he left in March 2018, it was only RM2.8 billion.

Selangor PKR information chief Halimey Abu Bakar

Today, the reserves stand at RM3.4 billion - an increase of RM600 million since 2018, despite the state spending on various welfare programmes and a Covid-19 economic slump, he added.

'Difference between clean and thieving govt'

PKR deputy information chief Chua Wei Kiat said among programmes Selangor rolled out include a Covid-19 vaccine and screening programme to fill in gaps by the federal government.

The state also provided welfare aid of up to RM3,600 a year per qualified household, in the wake of the post-pandemic economic slowdown, as well as other price support measures to ease the impact of rising inflation, he added.

This, Chua said, is unlike the federal government which lauded itself for forcing the people to withdraw their own retirement savings.

PKR deputy information chief Chua Wei Kiat

“Selangor is in a financially stable and strong position despite the many initiatives and programmes run, unlike the federal government which has only managed to raise its debts by RM1.36 trillion in this year alone.

“This is the difference between a clean government and a thieving one.

“So before Azmin wants to make any accusations, he should look for a clear mirror to look at his own face first,” he added.

'Azmin is desperate to salvage career'

Meanwhile, PKR Selangor deputy communications director Adzman Kamaruddin said Azmin’s statement was just a desperate attempt to salvage his political career, which is in tatters after he left Harapan.

“The rakyat has witnessed his failure after failure since becoming cabinet minister, that there is nothing for him to show other than rhetoric.

“In the upcoming general election, we will see his greed and chase for power punished in his parliamentary constituency of Gombak,” Adzman added.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari

Yesterday, Amirudin rebutted Azmin by showing how the state's contribution to the federal coffers had grown in the four years since he took over.

Amirudin was a close associate of Azmin prior to 2020, but, unlike Azmin, he did not defect during the Sheraton Move in 2020. - Mkini