Malaysia: Use local rubber products, says Mah

KLANG: Many foreign companies are using Malaysian-made rubber materials in their construction industry, but local firms continue to rely on imports.

Describing the situation as “ironic”, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong urged local firms to buy Malaysian-made rubber materials.

Flexible industry: Mah (second from right) examining the rubber compound production line during his visit to Doshin Rubber Production in Klang. Looking on is (from right) Doshin Rubber managing director Or Tan Teng and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Lim Kuang Sia.

Sri Lanka Shares End Lower As Energy, Materials Drag

“Many foreign countries are using our products, but Malaysians are not. I think this must change,” he told reporters during a visit to Doshin Rubber Products (M) Sdn Bhd here yesterday.

“We still have projects in Malaysia using overseas products just because they are from overseas. It is the mindset that everything from overseas is better.

“I urge everyone in the construction industry to look back at Malaysian products and do a technical assessment,” he said.

Mah said he would suggest that the Government identify a way to ensure the use of Malaysian-made rubber building materials, especially in big and mega projects in the country.

However, he said that he was not propagating a protectionist stance and that industry players could carry out their own evaluation before buying local products.

He said there were currently several mega projects in the country, such as the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), which could use local products.

While encouraging foreign investment and contractors, the projects, said Mah, must use local products if these were found to be of equivalent or higher quality and not more expensive.

Brushing aside claims that rubber was a sunset industry, Mah said the global market for its products was worth over US$500bil (RM2.2tril).

Companies like Doshin, he said, kept the country’s rubber industry competitive by buying most of its supply, adding that this was very good for the 450,000 smallholders.

Mah, who is also Gerakan president, congratulated Puan Sri Jamilah Anu for her landslide victory in last weekend’s Tanjong Datu by-election.

Mah said Jamilah obtaining 96.5% of the votes cast was reflective of the moderate stance taken by her husband, the late Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem.