Johari Abdul Ghani

Johari Abdul Ghani has been Malaysia's Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry since 17 December 2025, when Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim moved him from the plantation and commodities ministry. A chartered accountant, he is a vice-president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and MP for Titiwangsa. He was Second Finance Minister from 2016 to 2018.

The trade portfolio makes him the minister who answers for Malaysia's data-centre build-out. In the Dewan Rakyat on 15 October 2026 he moved federal policy from cheap power to rationing grid access by price. Besides the reserved-capacity charge, each operator moves onto its own market tariff, funds the transmission upgrades its load forces on The National utility, recycles its water and must spend at least 3% of its service budget with local suppliers. "It is no longer about cheap energy," he said.

He counted 57 working sites drawing 6,237 MW and a further 60 projects, approved or being built, asking for 11,172 MW, close to double. The charge turns land-banking of grid capacity into a monthly cost. It answered earlier pressure without a freeze: Johor stopped approving sites over water shortages in April 2026, and data centres reached 9.3% of national electricity use in one week in August.