PETALING JAYA: The Selangor government has set its sights on the state becoming like the Tokyo, Shanghai, or Dubai of Southeast Asia, drawing on the state’s economic strength, technology, ports and infrastructure, says menteri besar Amirudin Shari.
Amirudin said Selangor’s extensive facilities and comprehensive infrastructure allow the state to develop its own economic identity in the Southeast Asian region, Sinar Harian reported.
He said Selangor did not have to emulate Singapore’s model, but could draw inspiration from other global economic cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Shanghai and Dubai.
“We are not just talking about becoming (like) Tokyo, but we could also be like Osaka, or we could become (like) Shanghai as a technology hub and so on. With our strengths, we could be like Shanghai, which has the port of Shanghai, or Dubai, which has ports in Abu Dhabi, given the facilities and infrastructure available in Selangor,” he was quoted as saying.
He was responding to a question on the state’s direction under the Second Selangor Plan during an engagement session with media editors in Shah Alam today.
The Second Selangor Plan is an economic blueprint outlining six strategic missions across 25 focus areas, with a target of generating RM600 billion in economic value over the next five years.
Amirudin also said Johor and Singapore had their own strengths, as both already have strong development and a high concentration of economic activity. Selangor, on the other hand, has different strengths that could serve as the foundation for developing an economic model more suited to the state’s circumstances.
He said the state’s key strength was its human capital and expanding economic activity, driven by the population’s skills and capabilities. It also had an organically growing education, technical and vocational ecosystem to support industrial needs.
Amirudin said the public also needed to understand the bigger picture of Selangor’s development, rather than judging the state government solely based on specific issues or problems at the local level. He added that Selangor’s position as a state with high levels of economic activity meant that public expectations of the state government were also very high.
