PETALING JAYA, Oct 18 — Selangor Perikatan Nasional secretary Muhammad Hilman Idham today sought to challenge Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari's remark that Selangor was administered better than his predecessor.

Muhammad Hilman, who is also Gombak Setia assemblyman, said the reality was that Selangor's growth has declined since 2018, even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

He further labelled the arrogance in Amirudin's statement claiming that Selangor performed far under his leadership better than Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali as nothing but a joke among those living in the state.

"The claim of good economic performance by simply referring to the Selangor's contribution to the country's (Gross Domestic Product) GDP is a superficial and misguided attempt.

"In 2018, Selangor recorded a growth of 7 per cent and declined to 6.8 per cent in 2019 and continued in its decline due to the pandemic to -5.2 per cent and five per cent in 2021," he said in a statement this morning.

Muhammad Hilman said it has become customary in Amirudin's leadership to often mislead the people in order to amaze and 'impress with big numbers'.

"Such an attitude only makes the leadership delusional and unrealistic in many respects," he added.

Citing as example, Muhammad Hilman said the objective of the First Selangor Plan (RS-1) 2021-2025 to contribute 30 per cent of the nation's GDP was extremely unrealistic since Selangor would have to record a compounded annual growth rate of at least 9.5 per cent annually in the current economic situation.

"Therefore, Amirudin should first reflect on himself first before bragging like that.

"In reality, he is trapped in the shadow of the previous administration's performance until he was forced to rebrand various welfare programs for the people in order to erase the success achieved during Mohamed Azmin's administration," he said.