COMMENT | After what he has trumpeted as a highly successful visit to US President Donald Trump's White House, on the return leg from which he had an equally acclamatory detour to UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Downing Street, Prime Minister Najib Razak declaims that Malaysia is now a highly regarded country in the world.

Selangor Menter Besar Azmin Ali begs to differ.

Azmin posits opposition-controlled Selangor more as the real success story and the more respected constituent state of an otherwise bedraggled nation.

The compelling reason for this admittedly self-serving distinction: Azmin yesterday disclosed that an investor from the United States will soon announce big projects to be sited in Subang and Klang, hubs of growth that help make Selangor the richest state in the Malaysian federation.

Azmin pointed out the difference between Najib's Malaysia and opposition-ruled Selangor:

“This is the difference between Selangor and them [the federal government or Najib's Malaysia]. Investors come to invest in Selangor, unlike some governments that take our money to the US.”

Najib crowed that Malaysia is highly regarded in the comity of nations in Kota Kinabalu, capital of Sabah which United Nations reports have claimed is the poorest state in Malaysia.

Azmin contrasted Selangor's magnetism with what he claimed was Najib's deluded conception of Malaysia...