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We can one more time be the international hub of the World - as we did it once as the World Spice hub in Melaka back in the 1400's.DIGITAL ECONOMY is Malaysia's focus for the past couple of decades. The question is, how attractive is Malaysia for foreign content tech companies to come and set up HQ? Well, here is my list of the top 10 reasons:
1. Malaysia has, on average, 2 mobile devices per person totalling 60 million for a population of 30 million. This shows the potential high propensity to consume in the digital content world.
2. Malaysia has, on average, 5 debit/credit cards per household. More than 50% of the usage of these cards are for internet transactions particularly e-commerce. This psychological readiness amongst its consumers presents a good market segment for digital content. In 2014, the Malaysian music industry saw a shift for its highest revenue contributor from physical CDs to on-line downloads/streaming.
3. Malaysia will soon have full digital broadcasting landscape that can address the shortage of air wave spectrums. We can have as high as 50 to 60 TV channels. Currently, MyTV has rolled out approximately 60% to 70% of the Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) infrastructure.
4. Cyberjaya, a cyber-city in Malaysia, has numerous international data centres that service a whole lot of internet applications worldwide. It has potential to be the next Silicon Valley.
5. Malaysia is ranked No. 1 in the world for social media usage as gauged by it being Facebook's top 10 countries for average friends per person. Such enthusiastic community is a good market place.
6. Many international companies have opened their regional HQ/Office in Malaysia. In fact, Facebook has opened an office in Malaysia after realising that they need to service their No. 1 customers better, i.e. Malaysians. The game developer, Streamline, who is developing Street Fighter V and Final Fantasy XV has also moved its HQ from Amsterdam to Bangsar South. We had Rhythm & Hues earlier but its demise has got nothing to do with Malaysia.
7. Malaysia has a very strong regional presence for telecommunications (via Axiata) in Asean, one of the World's highest economic growth region. This is a ready platform for content to be distributed. In addition, its proximity to China and India, the 2 largest and fastest growing economies, can facilitate economic growth inter-regions further.
8. Malaysian Government policies are friendly for ICT, Entrepreneurship and Digital Economy as evident by its active entrepreneurship movements under the Ministry of Finance's Malaysia Global Innovative and Creative Centre (MaGIC) and Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) under Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDeC).
9. Malaysia has the general conducive environment for prosperity such as strong economic growth at 5% even during recession, English speaking country, melting pot of cultures and good portion of Government budgetary allocation for infrastructure development as well as human capital development. It is an open democratic society with no adverse extremism ideologically or religiously. Despite some political turmoil, the political landscape is relatively stable compared to many countries where frequent regime change disrupts economic progression.
10. Malaysia is geographically save as it is on the Sunda Platform - which means, not exposed to volcanic risks. It has no extreme weather and its tropical climate attracts many tourists from across the World. Malaysia has some issues with traffic jams and floods but nothing as worrying as what you see in Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Bangladesh, and the list continues.
Sometimes we (Malaysians) forget how pleasant our country is. It takes a foreigner to open our eyes. Mind you, the above points did not just come from my awareness alone. It was also significantly communicated to me by various foreigners such as Australians, Americans, Japanese, French and many more whom I have had the privilege to have technical economic discussions with. We have the country. It is up to us to nurture it. We can one more time be the international hub of the World - as we did it once as the World Spice hub in Melaka back in the 1400's.
* kopihangtuah
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