Brief caption:- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak with Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, who was appointed Digital economy advisor to Malaysia Government at the launch of Malaysia's Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ).
THE buzz created by Jack Ma’s presence in Malaysia is just beginning to get started. Hearing him speak about plans for Alibaba Group to set up its regional logistics hub in Malaysia seems to have convinced the markets (or at least stock-market punters) that it is all real.
Just by announcing his plans to come to Malaysia, the hype around Ma has created some RM781mil in market capitalisation increases in a handful of local stocks.
These stocks are running ahead of themselves. While we know that Alibaba and its associate companies will be setting up a logistics hub in Malaysia to serve the regional market, details will now begin to get ironed out. For example, it is still unclear how much the Alibaba Group is going to invest in creating this hub. And we still don’t know which local companies’ services it is going to use, except for those which have inked memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with it.
Incidentally, going by the trend of some of the property developers from China coming to Malaysia, there is a tendency to use a lot of their own resources to develop their projects.
One wonders if Alibaba will be doing the same. Nevertheless, the MoUs inked do indicate that real business ventures are going to be created with a few local companies.
On top of that list is Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
(MAHB). What has been revealed is that MAHB will partner Alibaba to develop the regional e-commerce and logistics hub in KLIA Aeropolis, the planned integrated airport city. And there’s the part about Pos Malaysia Bhd getting involved and two Malaysian banks teaming up to bring AliPay to this part of the world.
That Ma has decided on Malaysia is a sure win for us. His philosophy has a nice altruistic ring to it too - he wants to empower really small businesses and individuals to get access to global markets by lowering trade barriers. He said one reason he likes Malaysia is the significant number of small and medium enterprises or SMEs present here. The challenge now is for that vision to become a reality for Malaysians to benefit.
However, Malaysia’s past ambitious tech plans didn’t quite turn out according to plan. Recall the visions set out in the Multimedia Super Corridor, the BioValley and the Entertainment Village, to name a few.
Billions of ringgit had been spent on developments, consultants and land acquisitions. These projects have had some successful outcomes, but not up to the level that was first envisaged.
Hence, we have to ensure that Malaysian small companies and individuals actually get to benefit from this digital free trade zone. The last thing we need is for it to end up as some high-end property play to benefit a select few.
At the launch, both Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Ma shared a joke about changing the meaning of the word Alibaba, from one that meant thievery or to describe the concept of ‘rent-seeking’ in the Malaysian context. Hopefully, it’s a sign that Ma’s Alibaba’s involvement in Malaysia nudges us away from that kind of behaviour to one where value is created from embracing and benefiting from the global digital economy.
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