SHAH ALAM, June 10 — Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was left baffled today at the Najib administration’s decision to leave Malaysia’s biggest money spinning state out of the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP)

“Was the decision to neglect Selangor in the development focus caused by politics?” quizzed Khalid who is also the Selangor PKR chief.

The first-term MB seemed puzzled why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak failed to include Selangor in his master plan to develop the country in the next five years, choosing instead to focus on the north, south and east coast regions in Peninsular Malaysia as having the highest potential for economic impact.

“Selangor has a population of five million people, contributing the biggest share of the nation’s tax revenue and it deserves to be in the government’s plan for growth,” Khalid stressed.

The state contributes RM16 billion annually to federal coffers, the MB said while tabling the state budget last year; he also highlighted then that the state received only received RM408.26 million from Putrajaya in the form of grants.

“The catalyst for growth in Malaysia is the Klang Valley and Selangor,” the former corporate chief said.

Khalid pointed out that the state had recorded the highest number of industrial projects for the last two years running; the highest total capital investment; and provided the biggest job opportunities in Peninsular Malaysia.

“The prime minister merely mentioned about an economic stimulus package to make way for a ‘Greater Kuala Lumpur’ which involves only a small part of the Klang Valley,” he added.

Khalid noted the key sectors of growth under the 10MP — financial services, wholesale and retail, tourism, education, IT, private healthcare — are centred in the Klang Valley and called on the Najib administration not to neglect Selangor if it was serious in transforming Malaysia economically.