China’s Great Wall Motor is poised for its big entry into Southeast Asia, as the automaker said on Monday it would begin manufacturing its cars in Malaysia and Indonesia as early as July, in addition to its planned entry into Vietnam, local media reported.

Why it matters: The news comes as Malaysia surpassed Thailand to become the second biggest car market in the region after Indonesia in the first three months of this year, according to sales figures released by industry groups and compiled by Nikkei. This makes it another attractive market for Chinese car manufacturers given its growing economy and large population.

• Total vehicle sales increased 5% year-on-year to 202,245 units in Malaysia from January to March, in part driven by the government’s economic stimulus package, figures from the Malaysian Automotive Association show. Meanwhile, Thailand’s car sales, including internal combustion engine cars and EVs, fell 24.6% to 163,756 units from a year earlier, partly because of tightening rules around car loans, said the Federation of Thai Industries.

Details: Great Wall Motor will start operating a pure assembly plant with Malaysia’s EP Manufacturing in Malacca in July at the earliest, Cheng Jinkui, president of the company’s ASEAN operations, told the Business Times.

• The two companies said in January they would commence assembly of two of Great Wall Motor’s popular Haval models – the Haval H6, a five-seater sports utility vehicle, and the Haval Jolion, a compact crossover. The cars will be made from “completely-knocked-down (CKD)” kits comprising major parts with the goal of producing 20,000 units a year by 2028.
• Another CKD facility in Indonesia is also set to come into production in July or August, while the Chinese automaker is aiming for local assembly in Vietnam in 2025, according to Cheng. Great Wall Motor said last June that it was exporting the Haval H6 hybrid EVs to Vietnam from Thailand, where it operates a car plant it acquired from General Motors in September 2020.

Context: Chinese automakers are ramping up their investments in emerging EV markets overseas, especially in regions such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, at a time when competition remains intense at home and the US and Europe are imposing punitive tariffs on China-made EV imports.

• Geely and Malaysian automaker DRB Hicom last year reached a $10 billion deal that will transform the country’s Tanjung Malim area into an “automotive high-tech valley” with an annual production capacity of 500,000 vehicles by 2035, China Daily reported. Sales of Geely-backed local automaker Proton more than doubled to roughly 154,000 units last year, while Smart, a brand co-owned by Geely and Mercedes Benz, began exporting cars to Malaysia last year.
• Indonesia said four Chinese automakers, namely Chery, Neta, General Motors’ China joint venture Wuling, and Dongfeng’s Sokon, have agreed to expand their global manufacturing footprints to the country. The deals were announced when Indonesian Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita visited Beijing earlier this month, Caixin Global reported. Neta, also known as Hozon Auto, shipped 16,458 EVs overseas from January to May, more than a third of its total deliveries.
• China recorded exports of roughly 519,000 new energy vehicles, mainly all-electrics and plug-in hybrids, for the first five months of this year, representing a 13.7% growth from last year, according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). BYD and Tesla were the largest exporters, with shipments of more than 130,000 units. Great Wall Motor exported 9,646 units but said last month it would shut down its European headquarters in Munich, Germany.

Note: The article was first published on TNGlobal written by Yimie Yong.

The 2nd China-Malaysia Science & Technology Innovation Summit kicked off in MRANTI Park, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday (March 6) with the theme “Fostering Collaborative Innovation, Building the Future Together”.

The two-day summit is one of the key commemorative initiatives for the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia.

The summit focuses on showcasing and discussing technologies related to artificial intelligence (AI), agricultural technology, and biomedicine. The event also features a series of presentations, panel discussions, and TechInnoStar Pitching sessions.

The opening ceremony on Wednesday morning saw government officials, executives, and leaders from various technology industries and the corporate world gathering at MRANTI Park, where they discussed the role of technology in empowering various industries in the future.

Here are some key takeaways from the opening ceremony speakers:

1. Minister of Economy of Malaysia Rafizi Ramli

The shared future of Malaysia and China must lie in a third vertical: the flow of ideas through innovation and technological transfer, according to Rafizi.
“As we enter 2024, the year of the dragon, it marks 50 years since our second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, established diplomatic ties with Premier Zhou Enlai. Whilst Malaysia became the first of all ASEAN countries to do so in 1974, it would be myopic to ignore our relationship in the hundred years prior,” he said.

“Ours is a shared past. Historically, one that stretches back to the envoys of the Ming dynasty arriving at the ports of Malacca to establish their trade base. Little did those Chinese merchants know that our trading relationship would blossom to the extent of today.”

“For almost 15 years now, China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner, one that is valued at over MYR487 billion ($102.92 billion). This is only one of many facets that underpin our partnership,” he said.

Investment-wise, in 2023, Malaysia has secured over MYR189 billion ($39.94 billion) in investments and memorandum of understanding from Chinese companies.

“Just as ours is a shared past, ours too is a community with a shared future. With already established flows of capital and people, the search for the next vertical to deepen our relations is of utmost priority. I argue that the third vertical must lie in the flow of ideas,” he said, adding that ideas are in the form of disruptive innovation and technological transfer.

“For example, Malaysia is an Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing (OSAT) powerhouse, with about 13 percent global market share,” he said.

With such a wide, backend base, Malaysia is the ideal test bed for high-end Chinese technology. It is an industry poised for commercial expansion in the form of advancements in integrated circuit design, Rafizi added.

“If Malaysia’s industries – from agriculture, manufacturing, and healthcare – can start playing in the realms of frontier science and tech, our economy will be able to move up the value chain and simultaneously break free from the chains of the middle-income trap. This can only have a positive cascading effect on Malaysia and China’s relationship,” he said.

2. Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing

Innovation prospers a country with inexhaustible drive, and ‘Science and technology is the primary productive force, according to Ouyang. Keenly aware of this, the Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of science, technology, and innovation (STI).

In his speech, Ouyang said China will continue to implement the Belt and Road STI Cooperation Action Plan, by setting up more joint laboratories with other parties, scheduled to reach 100 in the next five years, and supporting more young foreign scientists to work in China on short-term programs, Ouyang added.

According to him, China and Malaysia have agreed to hold the 3rd China-Malaysia Intergovernmental Joint Committee Meeting on STI this year, which will further expand people-to-people exchanges in science and technology and R&D cooperation of common interest.

“Friendship between China and Malaysia dates back to a long time ago, which has withstood tests and hardships. This year marks the 50th anniversary of China and Malaysia establishing diplomatic relations,” he said in his speech.

“President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Anwar (Ibrahim) have reached an important consensus on jointly building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future, opening a new chapter for our bilateral relations. China and Malaysia have made impressive achievements in jointly implementing the Belt and Road Initiative,” he added.

3. Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology & Innovation (MRANTI) CEO Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff

Rais announced the Science and Technology Park Twinning initiative between MRANTI Park and Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing.

“Our recent initiatives have positioned MRANTI Park as a Global 4IR Hub, poised to unlock next-generation innovation,” he said.

“Inspired by my trip to China, where I had the privilege of exploring the Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing, one of the world’s largest science parks, boasting over 200 research & development centers, 90 higher learning institutions, and 400 research institutes. Now, I am delighted to take this opportunity to share with you the fruitful outcome of my team’s recent visit to Z-Park,” he said.

“One of the key highlights of our visit was the initiation of the Science and Technology Park Twinning initiative,” Rais said.

“The initiative seeks to enhance collaboration between MRANTI and Z-Park, promoting the adoption of best practices, knowledge sharing, and institutional excellence. It includes program-level partnerships to facilitate the exchange of tech companies between the two countries that will significantly influence the future of technology and innovation in both nations,” he added.

4.TusStar Holdings President, TusStar Chairman Zhang Jinsheng

TusStar came to Malaysia in 2018, establishing its first overseas incubation base in Southeast Asia, Zhang said.

“With a focus on incubating tech enterprises, TusStar has successfully incubated over 300 companies in the past five years, 80 percent of which are Malaysian companies,” he noted.
TusStar is committed to promoting the exchange of ideas and collaborations in technology between China and Malaysia. Every year, it facilitates at least 1,000 companies between Malaysia and China.

In the past five years, TusStar (Malaysia) has organized over 400 mid to large-scale events, including the China-Malaysia Science & Technology Innovation Summit, among others. These events have extensively connected resources from higher institutions, corporations, investment institutions, and other sectors.

“Standing at the new historical starting point of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia, under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiative, TusStar will continue to work hard and cultivate a thriving technology and innovation ecosystem in Malaysia,” he said.

TusStar will strive to nurture tech startups with innovative and internationally competitive capabilities, and explore the construction of “two countries, two parks” to inject new impetus into the development of tech enterprises in China and Malaysia and regional innovation, he said.

Co-hosted by TusStar and MRANTI, the 2nd China-Malaysia Science & Technology Innovation Summit is also integrated into the series of activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Malaysia.

Intrepid Group, a Southeast Asian e-commerce consultancy, announced that it has closed its Series A for an undisclosed amount to help Chinese brands tap the rapidly growing Southeast Asian e-commerce industry.

Why it matters: Similar to China a few years ago, countries in Southeast Asia (SEA) have a rapidly rising middle class and increasingly tech-savvy consumers, and is a popular destination for Chinese brands and e-commerce platforms looking to expand in search of growth.

• E-commerce in SEA is forecasted to be worth $40 billion in 2019, and is expected to rise to $150 billion by 2025, according to a Bain & Company report.
• Export cross-border commerce is rising as Chinese e-commerce marketplaces like Alibaba and JD.com, as well as smaller players such as Club Factory, are jumping on board.

“E-commerce environment in South East Asia is very different from China. There are many local platforms to sell on, Lazada, Shopee, Tokopedia, Facebook, Instagram. Advertising is done via Google and Facebook. South East Asia is also very fragmented, there are 6 markets with very different consumers, different cultures, different languages, different regulations.”

—Charles Debonneuil, Intrepid Group CEO and co-founder of Lazada Group, in a statement

Overcoming market fragmentation is key to success in SEA: Lazada founder

Details: Singapore-based Intrepid Group was founded in 2017 and is run by co-founders and former executives of Alibaba-backed Lazada. It offers management services on e-commerce platforms.

• The round was lead by SEA venture capital firm Kairous Capital, and followed by Sun SEA Capital, a venture capital firm backed by Malaysian conglomerates Sunway Group as well as early stage-investment firm 500 Startups Vietnam.
• The company has already set up core e-commerce operations across Southeast Asia, and tested the services with well-known local brands.
• The funding will be put toward the company’s second stage of growth: helping Chinese brands enter the Southeast Asian market. Chinese-speaking local teams in each SEA market will help Chinese clients to understand the regional e-commerce industry.
• The company already has offices in Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam, and is starting operations in Thailand and Malaysia.

Context: In April 2019, Intrepid raised $2 million in funding from several Swedish family offices at a post-money valuation of $9 million.

• Lazada is an important component of Alibaba’s overseas expansion. The e-commerce giant gained control of Lazada in 2016 by acquired 51% stake with an investment of $1 billion. Alibaba further increased its stake to 83% with another $1 billion investment in June 2017 and then an additional $2 billion in 2018.

The main challenge for Chinese tech companies entering Southeast Asia is overcoming market fragmentation, said Charles Debonneuil, CEO of Intrepid Group, in a fireside chat with TechNode Editor-in-Chief John Artman at TechCrunch Shenzhen 2019.

Debonneuil is a co-founder and former chief marketing officer at Lazada Group, one of SEA’s largest new retail platforms. Alibaba invested $1 billion to take a controlling stake in Lazada in 2016, four years after its inception. Debonneuil called the deal a “kick-off” moment for the inflow of Chinese capital into the region. His new venture, Intrepid Group, aims to help sellers “leverage media trends around e-commerce.”

The region is home to 600 million people and is growing fast. The population is young and tech-savvy, which makes it “very attractive from a macro perspective.” But the market is “much more fragmented than it looks from the outside,” the plethora of different languages and cultures make seizing opportunities far “trickier” than it seems and a practical approach to localization is necessary for success, Debonneuil said.

Foreign players are also facing stiff regional competition. “The entrepreneurial mindset is very impressive,” he said, bringing up the example of Grab, a Singapore-based ride-hailer that took over Uber’s SEA unit early last year.

Because the individual countries are small in size, companies must expand beyond national borders to compete with more prominent players in the region. Localization is key to this expansion, he said. Back in 2012, Lazada launched operations simultaneously in five countries—Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Because of these unique challenges, “the winners will be those who can form strong local teams and adapt to local cultures,” he said. Companies looking to expand into Southeast Asia face a similar dilemma that US companies deal with when expanding into China, “do they do it on their own, or do they partner with local companies?” he said.

Offline retail limited is in the region as stores are few and far apart, so e-commerce services have a lot of room to develop, he said. “Platforms have adopted the Taobao shopping experience, but they have stronger control of their logistics to ensure consistent delivery,” he said.

Unlike in China, the adoption rate for online payments remains low, and many transactions rely on cash on delivery, he said. Also, more online payment platforms vie for market share in SEA countries.

SEA sees similar trends to China in terms of platform gamification, and livestreaming is becoming increasingly popular, Debonneuil said. “Thailand and the Philippines have the highest use of Instagram hashtags per square meter. Vietnam and Thailand have the highest number of gigabytes used per month and the highest number of videos consumed per capita,” he said.

All local e-commerce apps have either launched livestreaming platforms already or are preparing to do so, he said, adding that they are also pursuing gamified features, such as leveling up to acquire coupons for purchasing goods.

Note: This article has been updated to clarify the value of Alibaba’s investment in Lazada.

Malaysia will continue to use Huawei’s technology – Bernama

What happened:  Malaysia will continue to use Huawei’s technology “as much as possible,” the country’s prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, said on Thursday during a visit to Tokyo. He said Washington might have grounds for its condemnation of the Chinese telecom giant, but that the company has a tremendous advantage over US technology, and that Malaysia’s research capabilities are far behind those of Huawei. He also said that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been reporting everything that is happening in Malaysia and China for a long time.

Why it’s important: The prime minister’s speech has been described as the strongest rebuttal to the US blacklisting of Huawei among Asian leaders so far. Maxis, the leading communications operator in Malaysia, reached an agreement with Huawei to accelerate the country’s 5G mobile network build out. Telecom companies around the world, including those in the UK, Canada, and India, have publicized the difficulty they face navigating 5G network construction amid the US-led campaign against Huawei. Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have banned Huawei from their national 5G deployment. Huawei on Thursday launched a 5G lab in South Korea, the first country to roll out a 5G network.

Malaysia poised to be the gateway to ASEAN and beyond. Malaysia has witnessed regional growth sprouting up – making it a Regional Digital Hub to penetrate the Middle East & India market.

Speaking of business links between the Middle East and Malaysia, one can never ignore the halal industry which is booming globally. Halal tourism is one of the fastest growing facets of the global travel industry and is projected to grow into a US$220 billion industry by 2020. What are the trends, opportunities, and challenges in this industry? Is this new tourism trend here to stay? Hear from founders of Tripfez and Have Halal Will Travel as we unravel the rise of halal tourism.

At ORIGIN, we will also be diving into Malaysia e-Commerce which is primed for more gains. Hear from ShopBack, Commerce Asia, and Green Packet as they shed some light on technology aspects, business trends and investment opportunities in the e-Commerce space which is reported to be on a growth trajectory.

Artificial Intelligence, one of the top global emerging trends and also a new frontier of Malaysia is full of untapped potential. How would a Sino-Malaysia AI collaboration help Malaysia in spurring its digital innovations? Hear from G3 Global who has recently inked a collaborative partnership on their sentiments about how AI can accelerate innovations.

We will be previewing other topics in the upcoming weeks so stay tuned.

Don’t have a ticket yet? Fret not. We are giving out free passes to TechNode’s community! Gain access to ORIGIN Malaysia Conference and other Malaysia Tech Week’s partner events happening from 19^th – 21^st June. Click here to redeem (may require VPN), terms & conditions apply.

For more information, visit origin.technode.com.

About the Panellists:

Panelists:

	Faeez Fadhlillah CEO, TripFez Faeez Fadhlillah is the CEO and Co-founder of Tripfez & Salam Standard, an innovative, state of the art travel portal dedicated to the rise of global Muslim travelers. Named as one of Forty Individuals Who Shaped Southeast Asian E-Commerce By EcommerceIQ, Faeez is also an avid speaker at many international travel conferences and seminars and previously chairs the R&D committee of the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA). Faeez was elected as Vice President of MATTA, Malaysia’s largest travel association for the term 2015 -2017 and currently serves as the Deputy Honorary Secretary-General for the term 2017-2019 as well as the executive board of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
	Mikhail Melvin Goh Co-founder, Have Halal Will Travel (HHWT) Mikhail Melvin Goh is the founder of Have Halal, Will Travel (HHWT), a media & technology company offering resources and tools to help Muslim travellers plan their perfect trip. Upon discovering Islam, Mikhail experienced the lack of services for the average Muslim traveller. The Singaporean native was motivated to provide a solution, so he teamed up with his wife and friend and founded HHWT. Today, HHWT content reaches over 8.6 million Muslims a month and they are redefining the Muslim travel market.
	Aaliyah Soraya GM, Commerce.Asia Enterprise Aaliyah’s previous eCommerce experience includes being part of the inaugural startup team for Lazada Malaysia in 2012 and championing through some challenging times within the Marketplace giant’s roadmap to success until 2017. Her roles throughout the 5 years in Lazada have shifted from content, SEO, EDM, Social Media, SEO, marketing, PR, branding and offline outreach. Prior to joining Commerce.Asia, she was Director of Marketing for MyBazar – an online marketplace, heading a project in partnership with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) called ‘BLEE’ which aimed to support and enable micro and small merchants going online. The project managed to acquire more than 500 micro and small merchants nationwide to sell online in the span of 4 months. Aaliyah’s main passion lies in content marketing, public relations, organizing events and helping SMEs digitalize their business
	Sharmeen LOOI Co-founder, ShopBack Malaysia Sharmeen brought ShopBack to Malaysia in early 2015. As the co-founder of ShopBack Malaysia, Sharmeen is responsible for the development of ShopBack’s collaborations with public and private sectors, at the same time facilitates marketing efforts that strengthen ShopBack’s business presence. For three consecutive years, Sharmeen is an advisory member of MYCYBERSALE’s marketing group, formulating strategies for Malaysia’s largest online sale under PIKOM. She has also led ShopBack in working with ministries like Tourism Malaysia on several promotional programmes, as well as established collaborations with credible partners from bank and telco-industries.
	Kenneth Kuan Director of Sales, Kiple Mr. Kenneth Kuan, is currently the Director of Sales for Kiple, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Green Packet Berhad. Currently, he spearheads the sales division of kipleBiz and kiplePay, driving the businesses to achieve the Company’s goals and annual targets by developing sales strategies and putting them into action plans. Kuan has more than 15 years of experience in the telecommunications, oil and gas and financial technology sector, specializing in SME and Corporate Account Management. He started his career with British Petroleum in the oil and gas sector. Following that, he joined Shell before spreading his foray to Maxis and Celcom as the Head of SME Channel Management. Before joining Green Packet, Kuan was with iPay88 as Head of Sales, leading the team to achieve the overall sales and profitability goals of the organization.
	Baiza Bain (Moderator) Managing Partner, Ficus Venture Capital Baiza is a graduate of Monash University, Australia with a degree in Business Studies double majoring in Accounting and Economics. He has 18 years’ experience in various fields within the Islamic Finance industry. He started his career as a research associate with Islamic Financial Data Services Ltd. (U.K) specializing in Islamic finance and banking data research before joining IslamiQ Ltd. where he was instrumental in developing the ScreenIslamiQ, the online service that allowed users to access information on Shariah-compliant stocks in the major global stock markets. He was also involved in the IslamiQ advisory team that completed the Shariah structuring of a US$150 million Islamic private equity fund focusing on dynamic and undervalued Asian companies. After leaving IslamiQ, he moved to Guidance Financial Group LLC, an international Islamic financial services company based in Washington D.C. where he was part of the investment team that structured a Musharakah Mutanaqisah based Islamic home financing program for consumers in the U.S market, an innovative mortgage based Islamic Fixed Income security with Freddie Mac and a Pan European Islamic Real Estate fund with ING International amongst others. During his employment with Guidance, he was also seconded to Navis Capital Partners a leading private equity fund management firm to assist in the day to day running of their Islamic private equity funds with an aggregate value of USD 300 million. At the Amanie Group, he served as Managing Director of Amanie Advisors, its global Shariah advisory arm and also as Director of Global Business with Amanie Holdings reporting directly to the Chairman. His last posting prior to founding Ficus Venture Partners was with the Maybank Group where he started as VP & Regional Head of Business Development for Maybank Asset Management Group and was promoted to be the CEO of Maybank Private Equity where he was tasked to manage a global private equity investment portfolio on behalf of the bank.
	Adrian Oh (Moderator) Co-founder, ecInsider.my Adrian Oh, co-founder of ecInsider.my (formerly known as eCommerceMILO.com), a content site that focuses on e-commerce content, providing insights, know-how, and inspiration with the goal of driving the e-commerce industry forward. He also co-founded Neowave Solutions, a technology company that focuses on building e-commerce platform (webShaper) to empower merchants to build own branded store and sell multi-channel via connecting to the region’s top eMarketplaces like Lazada, Shopee, Qoo10, Tokopedia, Bukalapak, etc. In 2019, He founded a new multichannel data platform – Zetpy.com, with the goal of enabling merchants to sell across the region’s Top Marketplaces and utilize the data to scale up their operation and business. On top of that, he is passionate about building community. He founded MECA (Malaysia E-commerce Aspiration) – an active Facebook community by the eCommerce players, for the eCommerce players, currently with 5000 over members. A computer science graduate and with deep passion in e-commerce, retail & online payments, He occasionally blogs at adrianoh.com.
	Md. Radzi bin Din Executive Director, G3 Global Encik Radzi was appointed as Executive Director on 22 October 2018. He obtained a Degree in Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. Armed with management, business development and marketing experience in Information, Telecommunication, and Technology, Radzi started work in 1986 at Sapura Holdings. During his stint in Sapura Holdings, he secured Government’s Smart School project with consortium partners in implementing Smart School solutions nationwide and set up ADAM 017 mobile telecommunications operator (which was bought over by Maxis) where it was a sole distributor for Nokia mobile phones. In 2005, he joined Green Packet as a Head of Special Projects and later, joined Packet One Networks as a Head of Regulatory. Before joining G3 Global, Radzi was with Theta Technologies for 3 years as a Head of Sales and Relationships, leading the team to explore new markets and product offerings.
	William Yap Founder, Artificial Intelligence Malaysia William Yap is the Founder of Artificial Intelligence Malaysia. He has over a decade of experience in Data Science and Analytics at various industry leaders. William has led high-impact Artificial Intelligence projects with other leading international Data Scientists and has helped drive Malaysia’s National Big Data Analytics initiatives. He has also guided entrepreneurs, startups and established corporations on Digitalisation and Data Innovations.

*Malaysia Tech Week is a city-wide festival of events by the industry to bring together the best of Malaysia corporates, ecosystem partners, investors, regulators, and tech startups along with delegations from all around the world to the tech hub of Southeast Asia- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tencent’s WeChat wallet is luring Malaysian users with free money —Tech In Asia

What happened: After presenting a localized version of WeChat Wallet in Malaysia in June, the service has kicked off a promotion for this entire week that will be rewarding users with virtual money gifts known in China as “hongbao.” Similar to its China version, WeChat Wallet offers linking bank accounts, topping up phone cards, and buying plane and train tickets but the functions are still limited in comparison.

Why it’s important: WeChat said earlier that its wallet will mostly be targeting Chinese tourists but now it seems that the company is changing its course towards capturing the international market. Malaysia is the first country after China and Hong Kong where WeChat has rolled out a local version. As a payment method, WeChat Pay is accepted in over 40 countries and regions where it serves Chinese tourists, according to the company.

Tencent has made a “breakthrough” in obtaining an electronics payment license in Malaysia that would allow local users link their bank accounts to WeChat Pay and make payments in ringgit, senior vice president S.Y. Lau told Reuters. Tencent applied for the license in July and expects to launch the full ecosystem in Malaysia early next year, making it the first country outside China to operate the full WeChat system.

This comes as a surge in Tencent’s shares see the company surpass Facebook to become the world’s fifth most valuable firm behind Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.

“Malaysia is actually quite large in the sense that we have 20 million WeChat users, huge potential, and the market is quite warm towards internet products from China,” Lau said in the interview with Reuters.

At the time of announcing the application for the license, Grace Yin, director of WeChat Pay explained to a Reuters reporter the choice of Malaysia as the first overseas market stemming fro the fact that “Malaysia has a large Chinese community”.

“What we’re aiming to create is ‘super IPs’ that leverage our different businesses from upstream to downstream,” Lau said, explaining how the end goal is to export Chinese culture globally, and also stated that Tencent is “not in a hurry” to speed up its overseas expansion.

Alibaba is also pushing out a global payments system with its financial affiliate Ant Financial already working with Malaysia’s Maybank to extend the use of its services in the country. Tencent’s social approach could be more problematic as so far WeChat adoption outside China has been limited and capturing the transactions of Chinese tourists has been the main reason for mainland companies to extend payment systems globally.

Editor’s Note:  This post was contributed by Sean Konieczny, a tech entrepreneur and extensive traveler. While in Asia, he settled in Beijing and co-founded a digital health data company to provide precision healthcare services that correspond with user health data. 

Jack Ma along with several Southeast Asian strategic partners have officially signed Memorandum of Understandings for launching a new digital free trade zone (DFTZ) for all e-commerce focused business.

The DFTZ is the world’s first special trade zone that promotes the growth of e-commerce by providing a state-of-the-art platform for SMEs and enterprises. The zone will enable businesses to freely trade via e-commerce platforms and offer exclusive resources to create a competitive advantage over the traditional e-commerce world.

Jack Ma and the Alibaba Group along with the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation are leading the cause, reinforced by a tribe of significant partners including the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak.

The DFTZ is striving to become the preferred gateway for global brands and regional marketplaces in the e-commerce industry. It will be Alibaba’s first eHub outside of China, as it aims to double Malaysian’s e-commerce growth from 10.8% to 20.8% by 2020 and has the determination to create 60,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Ma’s confidence in digital progression and perhaps some of his animosity toward the Chinese government has sparked his motivation to plant the seed for this global endeavor outside of China. He believes that 90% of the global business world will become internet based over the next 20-30 years. Ma knows he needs fertile soil to propel this initiative and his international intention is part of the reason why Ma is teaming up with Malaysia.

“We want to make sure that it becomes a Malaysian business instead of Alibaba’s business, the eHub belongs to Malaysia and should be operated by Malaysians,” he said.

He also mentioned how Alibaba over the years has been hiring and training many Malaysians in China, only to subsequently send them back to Malaysia to commit to more specialized endeavors. He believes DFTZ should be a local (Malaysian) business, run by the locals.

Malaysia will set the stage, conveniently located in central Southeast Asia, providing resources that can easily converge with India, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and other environs that are on the verge of exponential digital expansion.

The Malaysian-based DFTZ consists of two major elements that will stabilize the foundation for global expansion, DFTZ’s official website explains the Aeropolis and the Internet City.

The Aeropolis, a logistics hub, will strategically handle customs clearance, warehousing, and controlled production along with clearance and exports. The DFTZ will also be directly connected to Hangzhou’s cross-border e-commerce pilot-zone via Alibaba’s OneTouch Service platforms. This enables many trading operations such as customs, foreign exchange, financial services, and logistics to be digitized via the connection with Malaysia.

The 500,000 sq ft Kuala Lumpur-based Internet City is a centralized premier digital hub for inter-related companies to innovate and grow. It will facilitate end-to-end support, networking, and knowledge-sharing that will drive innovation for the uprising internet economy and global e-commerce industry. With the heavy focus on incubation and innovation, Patrick Grove and The Catcha Group are set in place as the main drivers for the project. This means great news for existing businesses and early-stage entrepreneurs who are looking for a launchpad.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, will visit Hangzhou next month for the Belt and Road Summit and also make a stop at Alibaba’s Headquarters to continue the conversation. He believes that “[the] DFTZ is a testament to Malaysia’s unwavering commitment to propel the growth of SMEs through e-commerce. It also marks a new phase of collaboration between Malaysian and Chinese businesses through the participation of Mr. Ma and Alibaba Group. I strongly believe that together, we can achieve a more prosperous economic landscape that benefits the industry and people.”

The DFTZ’s vision is to promote innovation for e-commerce through strategy, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. The goal is to become a best-in-class scalable platform that will set the pace and a global standard for the e-commerce industry. Other e-commerce giants such as Amazon, Rakuten, or JD have yet to embark on such a political and globally-united endeavor.

TechNode does not necessarily endorse the commentary made in this article.

When we started OpenWebAsia conference, the idea is very simple: We want it to be the leading conference truly focusing on Asian web industry and a platform connecting the west with the east. We did the first and amazing one in 2008 in Seoul, and we were planning to do it again in 2009 but unfortunately did not make it mainly because of the financial crisis (lacking of sponsorship).

But, definitely we want to carry on openning the Asia web. Now with great pleasure, we can confirm you that you won’t miss it this year! Supported by MSC Malaysia and led by our friend Daniel CerVentus and his Entrepreneurs.my team, OpenWebAsia’s SouthEast Asia version is set to 13th-14th, July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The official site is up on http://sea.openwebasia.com.

What will OpenWebAsia/SEA 2010 focus on:

• Discover why most fail and few succeed in implementing their web strategies in South East Asia
• The good, the bad and the ugly of web technology & platform
• The mobile broadband wave – Android vs. iPhone
• Learn the future of Web and Mobile platform which is shaping the next web resolution
• How Cloud computing strategies can create high growth

The registration page is also up here: http://apps.socialwalk.com/events/393-open-web-asia–south-east-asia. If you are interested in attending, here is the Promo Code you may need for some special discount: 27876.

Looking forwards to meeting you in SEA web.

1. Mobile browsing is the perfect Substitution

As a native of Malaysia, Indonesia’s neighbouring country. I always wonder what is it that Indonesians have that we don’t, as a matter a fact. We have more than them. Malaysia has better fixed line infrastructre, which means that people are already hooked to the net. And our rollout of WiMax and 3G/HSDPA has been equally fast, if not faster.

Then I realized that perhaps, this is the the very reason why Indonesians are more receptive to mobile browsing: simply because they have a bad fixed line infrastructure that they readily hop to the next substitution.

2. Indonesia’s telco is a case of Perfectly Competitive Market

Secondly, open competition. Bigboy Indosat charges 1 rupiah per 1 kbps (about USD0.80 for 10 mbps)and some newboys like SMART and AXIS are trying to beat this pricing. Compared to Malaysia, we are charging a hefty 30 times more (read Maxis, DiGi or UMobile’s prepaid and postpaid rate are at RM0.0.1/1kbps). For an unlimited plan, it’s approximately USD8 per month in Indonesia.

3. The Berry Factor

Thirdly is the berry factor. Everyone is hooked on blackberry’s messaging program. Blackberry’s messaging program is the sticking point where it gets people to start using mobile browsing. iPhone might help push the buzz further as it launches this week in Indonesia(and Malaysia too). I have to speculate that iPhone is not gonna be as big. It might get some love, but in a country where SMS is huge, touch-based phone are counter-productive.

I have started using touch-based phone for seven months now(reveal: HTC Touch Diamond) and I still can never get comfortable with texting. I (so do all Indonesians and Malaysians) inherited the ability of texting with my phone in the pocket in my teenage years where I can write an sms just by pressing the keypad in the pocket. In any case, the blackberry fever is a helping hand in Mobile browsing.

4. A browser for all

Lastly, Opera Mini. Opera Mini is Opera’s mobile browser variant that compresses everything that you request to approximately 20% of the actual size. It’s hard to argue the cause and effect here, but with lesser bandwidth consumption, it means saving 80% of your data charges – a high value proposition in a prepaid mad country.(disclosure: I work for Opera)

As for the prospect of mobile Web2.0. Just imagine – 220 million people market, booming mobile browsing. Your guess.

Note: I was in Jakarta as a guest speaker in BINUS and also spoke in Jakarta’s MobileMonday event.

The introduction of this special report says that:

Southeast Asia is a “rojak” (Malay for mixture) with different levels of Internet development. Singapore has one of the world’s highest broadband-penetration rates while countries like Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar lag behind.

With more than 500 million people, Southeast Asia is an presents an exciting opportunity for mobile developers and operators. Countries in the region have grown their mobile Web uptake significantly. The lack of broadband Internet infrastructure in some countries has contributed to the burst of mobile browsing. Heavy users often opt for the latest phone model that comes with 3G and it has become increasing popular for mobile operators to offer fixed-rate 3G packages, which consumers use to replace their broadband access.

Popular sites in Southeast Asia are a mix of international sites and local ones. Singapore has mostly international sites, while Vietnam has mostly Vietnamese in the Top 10. We also see a huge social network following in the region. Friendster, Hi5 and Facebook all ranked strongly. In our August report on the Long Tail, we showed that Friendster alone contributed to more than 50% of the monthly data usage in Indonesia.

Born and bred in this region, i am always amazed how quick users adopt to the latest handphones. There is an ill-attempted joke saying that you can scope up many fancy secondhand phones from the school kid here and sell it elsewhere in the world.

Looking at the statistics, Malaysia leads with 462.6% growth in users this year, followed by the Philippines (396.4% growth) and Indonesia (329.5% growth). Even though these statistics are measured solely on Opera Mini browser usage, it very much tells the story of Internet adoption as Opera Mini has a huge market share in mobile browsing.

So why is Internet browsing so big in SEA?

Firstly the telecommunication providers are taking steps to generate data income(to substitute voice call revenue drop). For example earlier this year, the biggest telco in Malaysia, Maxis ran a series of advertisements to promote broadband Internet usage, this might be the reason of Malaysia’s usage spike.

Another blessing in disguis was the less-than-ideal landline speed. Places such as Indonesia has huge appetite for Internet. So when landline couldn’t satisfy them, people went mobile broadband.

Thirdly would be because of the traffic condition of parts of SEA. Long hours in the car meant that everyone wanted to find something to do in rush hour, and mobile Internet answered the calling.

Last but not least is the status symbol of chic handphones. There are groups of people, young ones especially that scramble to buy the latest handphones ,this means that their handsets come equipt with 3G and HSDPA and what not.

Looking ahead in 2009, Mobile Internet will continute to grow as telcos continue to push their 3G services. Mobile Internet will be advertised as an ideal platform to acquire the latest services. From Location-based services to dating tips, from weather forecast to mobile games.