17/09/2025

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | SEPT 17, 2025

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Malaysian Paper

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Hydrogen mobility agenda a ‘step in the right direction’

GMA Garnet marks first anniversary of distribution hub in Port Klang PETALING JAYA: GMA Garnet Group, the industrial garnet business unit of diversified industrial conglomerate Jebsen & Jessen Group and the world’s largest and only fully integrated garnet company, is marking the first anniversary of the launch of its Malaysian distribution hub in Port Klang, Selangor. Serving GMA’s Asia-Pacific (Apac) market, since opening in June 2024, the Port Klang facility has rapidly scaled to handle 71% of GMA’s Asia garnet trade and is now a strategic gateway that accelerates growth and expands access to high-demand industrial markets. As demand for high-quality industrial materials surges across key sectors such as marine, oil and gas, infrastructure, and manu facturing, GMA’s Malaysian distribution hub will play a key role in supplying garnet to the Apac region besides highlighting Malaysia’s growing significance in global industrial trade. This expansion, the company said, is well timed to serve high-growth markets across Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, with the Apac construction market expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 6.8% from 2025 to 2030. Strategically located at the crossroads of key regional markets and leveraging Port Klang’s growing capabilities, GMA’s Malaysian distribution hub has delivered significantly faster lead times by up to 21 days, broader market coverage and a substantial increase in regional delivery volumes to meet the region’s growing demand for high-performance abrasives. To ensure the highest standards and high quality garnet products, rigorous industry leading quality control and assurance processes and training, are implemented at the Malaysian distribution hub. This enhanced operational capability is supported by recent safety enhancements at the facility, including the installation of guards around all conveyors and upgraded operational processes, ensuring a safer and more efficient production of high-perfor mance abrasive solutions. “Our Malaysian hub in Port Klang has been a crucial part of GMA’s growth across Apac and serves as more than a transit point. It enhances our supply chain and service capabilities, and enables us to introduce abrasive innovations specifically tailored to Apac’s industrial challenges,” said GMA Garnet Group international sales and marketing general manager Flynn Cowan. Looking ahead, he said they plan to enhance their Malaysian distribution hub further and continue growing their Apac footprint from Port Klang. In 2024, to meet the specific needs of the Apac market, GMA launched ToughBlast, with the Malaysian distribution hub as the sole port for its latest product and its complementary range of engineered abrasive blends customised for the Asia-Pacific. A premium garnet abrasive engineered for extreme surface preparation environments, ToughBlast can be applied across industries such as oil and gas (onshore and offshore), shipyard maintenance and repair, water and wastewater treatment and energy generation, among others. Meanwhile, to strengthen its position and support its growing Apac market needs, GMA appointed Shashi Kumar as Apac sales and marketing manager and Chris Manger as head of technical Apac. “The appointments of Shashi and Chris reflect the strength and depth of our leadership team and underscore our commitment to building a robust foundation to drive long-term growth and innovation in the region,” said Cowan.

Existing policy strategies emphasise increasing participation rates but overlook deeper structural factors including caregiving responsibilities, labour market barriers and social expectations. Khazanah Research Institute’s (KRI) latest discussion paper, “Interwoven Pathways: The Care and Career Conundrum in Women’s Empowerment”, explores the interwoven pathways that women navigate when making decisions about work and care, with particular focus on housewives. Their unpaid care and domestic work are far from idle, yet rarely recognised as “productive”. It remains essential, as it provides care for dependents, reduces pressure on public services, and enables other household members to work. Despite this vital role, such work continues to be undervalued, unprotected and often misunderstood. Drawing on survey findings, the paper highlights that most housewives cited caregiving as the main reason for them becoming a housewife and leaving or not entering paid work. Among those with prior work experience, many earned low wages, with 27% reporting less than RM1,500 in their last job, reflecting labour market barriers that discourage KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has taken the right step in making hydrogen car technology a national priority of its clean energy initiatives under the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) but the right policies, tariffs and incentives are key ingredients to make it work. Giving the thumbs up for the inclusion of hydrogen mobility in the country’s development plan, the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA), however, cautions that the right policies and practical frameworks are urgently needed to turn ambition into adoption of a technology that few countries are currently using. Among countries using hydrogen car technology are China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and Germany, while Malaysia is reportedly developing such technology for future fuel use, focusing on fuel cell electric vehicles such as the Toyota Mirai. MAA president Mohd Shamsor Mohd Zain ( pic ) said it was a step in the right direction towards sustainability in the government’s vision to identify hydrogen, alongside key clean energy solutions such as nuclear and carbon capture. “With the right policies, clear tariffs and right incentives, it will help the auto industry to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen vehicles in the Malaysian market,” he told Bernama. Under the country’s five-year national development roadmap, hydrogen is placed at the centre of Malaysia’s next-generation incentives in 13th Malaysia Plan pivotal to turn ambition into reality o Malaysian Automotive Association says right policies, tariffs and

“AHTV will play a key role by attracting high-tech investment, development of research and development (R&D) facilities and test laboratories. With this in place, it will strengthen the local vendor ecosystem, which will help boost localisation activities in line with future mobility needs,” he added. With RM430 billion allocated for

mobility ambitions. The plan views hydrogen vehicles as a viable solution to decarbonise sectors that are harder to electrify, particularly long-haul and heavy-duty transport – areas where conventional battery-electric vehicles may face operational limitations. MAA also sees the planned introduction of carbon tax and carbon trading announced under the

0 Expand and improve access to affordable and quality care services via direct aid to families, subsidies to care centres, expanding of public provision, and professionalisation of the care sector. 0 Promote shared caregiving responsibilities by adopting gender-responsive labour policies, including stronger paternity leave provisions and incentives for flexible working arrange ments. 0 Strengthen community-based support net works for unpaid carers to build a supportive infrastructure and provide practical resources for unpaid carers. 0 Integrate gender and care considerations into national statistics to improve policymaking, monitoring and evaluation. This discussion paper is part of KRI’s broader research on Gender and Care Work and is authored by Puteri Marjan Megat Muzafar, Adam Manaf Mohamed Firouz, Ilyana Syafiqa Mukhriz Mudaris and Nur Alya Sarah Abd Hamid. The primary data is derived from a survey collaboration between KRI and Persatuan Suri Rumah Rahmah Malaysia. development expenditures under the 13MP, the government’s commitment to infrastructure growth is expected to indirectly benefit the automotive sector, particularly commercial vehicle segments. Generally, public infrastructure projects drive demand for vehicles. This would then create a ripple effect across the entire industry, from manufacturing to after-sales. “The 13MP shows the government’s strong commitment to economic and industrial growth, with RM430 billion allocated for development. This will have a positive spillover effect on the automotive sector,” said Mohd Shamsor. The association also views that the focus on high-growth, high-value industries will also benefit the auto sector by encouraging localisation of advanced components like EV parts and safety systems. “AHTV will play a key role by attracting high tech investment, development of R&D facilities and test laboratories. With this in place, it will strengthen the local vendor ecosystem, which will help boost localisation activities in line with future mobility needs,” he pointed out. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in unveiling the 13MP on July 31, said a total investment of RM611 billion from 2026 to 2030 would be allotted to transform Malaysia into a more inclusive, sustainable and technologically driven nation. Of the total, RM430 billion will come from the government’s development expenditure, RM120 billion from government linked companies and government-linked investment companies and RM61 billion through public-private partnerships. – Bernama

sustained employment. The vast majority now face financial insecurity, with only 29% perceiving that their families earn enough to cover lifestyle, emergency savings and retirement. Nearly 9 in 10 housewives (88.9%) rely entirely on their husbands for income, which leaves them economically vulnerable, limits their bargaining power and undermines long-term financial security. Despite their contributions, they also face various negative perceptions. Among the housewives, 60% faced sentiment that they have “a lot of free time” despite their time-intensive reality of unpaid care work, while 45.5% said they were perceived as not contributing to their families. Weak support systems further compound these challenges, with concerns over affordability and quality of formal care services, while government initiatives to expand care services or support women’s re-entry into work have had limited reach and impact. The paper highlights several key implications for policymakers and stakeholders. 0 Recognise housewives and value unpaid care work in national policies by improving data col lection on care work with time use surveys and integrating it into economic planning. 0 Design inclusive income-security mecha nisms for housewives and unpaid caregivers by enhancing existing schemes and intro ducing a care allowance for unpaid or infor MAA believes a skilled local workforce will also be instrumental in supporting strategic initiatives like the Automotive High-Tech Valley (AHTV), envisioned as a hub for high-value automotive manufacturing and innovation. Mohd Shamsor said this would also ensure that Malaysia is ready with the right expertise to drive next-generation mobility technologies as the shift to electric, autonomous and connected vehicles requires a new kind of workforce. 13MP as key tools that could reshape vehicle procurement and fleet strategies in the public and private sectors. Mohd Shamsor said these policies, if implemented well, could drive the shift toward low-emission fleets by making conventional polluting vehicles less financially attractive. The implementation of these policies could also help accelerate the development of much needed electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure nationwide, further supporting Malaysia’s transition to cleaner and more sustainable mobility. Beyond energy transition, the automotive industry is also encouraged by the plan’s emphasis on strengthening technical and vocational education and training (TVET), which MAA believes is a critical enabler of the future mobility ecosystem. “We support the government’s initiative to strengthen TVET to produce more skilled technical expertise and technicians, which is essential for the industry’s shift toward electric, connected and autonomous vehicles,” Mohd Shamsor said.

KRI calls for recognition of housewives, unpaid caregivers in policies PETALING JAYA: Despite decades of policy focus and rising educational attainment, women’s participation in the labour force in Malaysia has only seen modest gains. mal caregivers. 0 Support access to education, training and reskilling for housewives and other unpaid or informal caregivers through flexible and com munity-based programmes.