SHAH ALAM - Having risen rapidly through Malaysia’s political ranks over the past five years, Selangor chief minister Amirudin Shari is putting his federal ambitions on the back burner as he seeks another term as leader of Malaysia’s richest state in upcoming state elections in order to realise his vision and projects.
When Datuk Seri Amirudin was appointed Selangor Menteri Besar in 2018, he was very much in the shadow of his political mentor Azmin Ali, who had left the position to take up a federal minister post following Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) maiden electoral win that year.
Five years later, Datuk Seri Azmin has left Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in the wake of the infamous Sheraton Move that led to the collapse of the PH administration in 2020. He is set to lead the opposition Perikatan Nasional’s campaign in the state elections that are due later this year.
Mr Amirudin, however, has stayed on in PKR, becoming the party’s vice-president and state chief for the PKR-led PH coalition in Selangor and Pahang.
In the 2022 General Election, Mr Amirudin defeated Mr Azmin – a three-term incumbent – in the Gombak parliamentary seat, priming him for a career trajectory similar to that of his predecessor.
However, despite his multiple hats, Mr Amirudin remains keen on finishing another term in Selangor, making him the first among the chiefs of six states that will face elections this year to publicly declare interest in continuing in their current position.
“I need one more term to make sure everything I have envisioned is workable,” he told The Straits Times during an interview at his official residence on Wednesday.
The 43-year-old faced a steep learning curve, having had to deal with the collapse of the PH federal government in 2020, catastrophic floods in 2021, and economic headwinds for much of 2022.
Mr Amirudin said that his plans for three main development regions in Selangor – the Sabak Bernam development area in the north, the South Selangor Integrated Development Region, and the Selangor Maritime Gateway meant to rejuvenate the state’s main river and mitigate floods – need one more term to be realised.
With Selangor often considered the crown jewel among PH-led states, Mr Amirudin sees its continued success as reflecting well on the federal administration.
He said a second term at the helm of the state would enable him to focus more on environmental and climate change issues that are fast affecting Selangor.
Unlike his predecessors, Mr Amirudin has opted to be the chairman of Worldwide Holdings, a state-owned energy company that also dabbles in waste management and the building of power plants, instead of heading Permodalan Negeri Selangor, a state-owned property development firm.
He believes that he has managed to distinguish his administration from that of Mr Azmin by adopting more sustainable welfare programmes.
“I have realigned our welfare programmes to offer more sustainable and real solutions to the public, rather than handouts and a populist approach, as done by Azmin Ali,” said Mr Amirudin.
As an example, he cited his decision to realign the Peduli Sihat (Care For Health) initiative to fulfil its intended objective – which is to encourage health screening – instead of just providing free treatment at private health facilities.
“Within a few months, more than 20,000 people have registered for this programme,” he said.
