New portfolios for Selangor exco, with seven new faces

SHAH ALAM: Creating economic districts and nurturing the care and creative industries are among the new portfolios in Selangor’s recently-appointed executive council, according to Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.

Other new portfolios that have been assigned to the 10-member council include digitalising government, developing sustainable cities and modernising agriculture and farming.

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Amirudin said the new areas of focus was to streamline the state exco’s responsibilities and policy thrusts with that of the federal Cabinet.

The 32 portfolios have been divided among 10 exco members, with Amirudin himself holding five as opposed to the six which he oversaw during his last term.

The exco members are Ng Sze Han (DAP), Izham Hashim (Amanah), Borhan Aman Shah (PKR), Ng Suee Lim (DAP), Datuk Rizam Ismail (Umno), Jamaliah Jamaluddin (DAP), Mohd Najwan Halimi (PKR), V. Papparaidu (DAP), Dr Fahmi Ngah (PKR) and Anfaal Saari (Amanah).

Of the 10, only Sze Han, Izham and Borhan have experience as executive councillors, while Suee Lim was a former state legislature speaker.

Of the seven newbies, Jamaliah, Mohd Najwan and Rizam are second-term assemblymen while Dr Fahmi, Papparaidu and Anfaal are all first-term lawmakers.

Three of the non-Muslim exco members have also been appointed as joint chairmen of the state’s special committee on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.

In his speech announcing the portfolios, Amirudin said he wanted to make the state the most successful, not only in Malaysia but also in the region.

“To be successful not only from an economic angle but also with high-income employment opportunities. Successful not only with the highest gross domestic product contribution but to also seek solutions for climate change, especially (its effects) like flooding,” he said.He added that Selangor must be successful in terms of making the state administration people-centric by providing educational programmes to empower youth and women with high skills and wages.During a press conference, Amirudin said although there were seven newbies, not all of them were greenhorns as both Mohd Najwan and Jamaliah had some experience serving as assemblymen.

“Even though Suee Lim has just been selected as exco member, he is the most experienced here as a fifth-term assemblyman,” he added.

He also said Papparaidu had worked in an exco’s office while Dr Fahmi had experience managing state-run programmes.