9 ms·

Malaysia Digital Free Trade Zone

49 points by diehell 9y ago

danielvf 9y ago
Is this just a normal free trade zone with "digital" tacked onto the name?
- wmf 9y ago
  No, see, you can file your customs paperwork digitally.
- contingencies 9y ago
  Cynically: No, it's "Cyber" prepended to "jaya" (used to mean "city" in Malaysia, but apparently derived from Sanskrit for 'victory', ie. a place where a battle was won) - ie. a rebranding of "The city at the place of the victory of the battle of Cyber" to "digital free trade zone". Realistically: Maybe in part. It looks like in part they are trying to challenge Singapore for air freight logistics. Unfortunately KLIA is miles from KL and nobody really lives out there, so even though you get "express freight handling" the only major nearby markets accessible by road are Singapore and KL (plus some second-tier peninsular Malaysian cities) and in the former case you have to pay to cross another border. Amusingly: On their promotional video they tout the future as being "borderless" - quite funny as KL is known to be a global center for forged, modified and stolen passports and other identity documentation.
jpatokal 9y ago
Sounds like a branding refresh for the Multimedia Super Corridor: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSC_Malaysia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSC_Malaysia
- amirbehzad 9y ago
  It is.
walrus01 9y ago
You only need to google "Malaysia internet sharia law" to understand why it would be a very poor idea to invest in datacenter/telecom infrastructure in Malaysia, domestically. The government is going the same direction as Turkey recently. https://www.google.com/search?q=malaysia+internet+sharia+law&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=malaysia+internet+sharia+law... In my opinion it's ethically the same as deciding to operate a datacenter in mainland China and sign up for all the government laws, regulations and oversight that goes with it: You can do it from a technical perspective, but many US based companies have explicitly chosen not to do so based on their own ethical standards.
- contingencies 9y ago
  I agree about Malaysia: it is extremely corrupt and abuses of power are the norm rather than the exception. That said, US and UK government interventionism and surveillance is really not that different to China. The UK is actually worse in many ways. For example, the UK is reported to record all internet traffic and have the most concurrent media gag orders in operation of any nation.
  - walrus01 9y ago
    The UK is at this point far worse than the US. At least in the US you can publish very nearly anything on your own servers, fully self hosted, and not get it taken down unless it is explicitly making terroristic threats or hosting child porn. There's a huge amount of first amendment precedent set for parody, satire and generally offensive things (Hustler Magazine parodying Jerry Falwell, for example) that meets the criteria for being protected by the first amendment. The UK at least pays lip service to being a secular society. Where it gets scary to me is politicians in religious countries actively implementing sharia law in relations to internet/telecom to appease a fundamentalist base. I agree that the UK is going a very worrying direction, forcing retail ISPs to operate a "porn filter" and have it enabled by default, and so forth.
- toomanybeersies 9y ago
  It's not even just the government. I wouldn't store any confidential/secure data in a country that you can bribe cops for relatively trivial sums in. That does end up writing off most of the world for storage, admittedly.
mark_l_watson 9y ago
re: first video on page: I like Jack Ma and often agree with him, but his view on globalization is I think incorrect. Sure globalization has helped lift many people in the world out of poverty (good thing!) but I can't buy into giving up countrys' rights to have their own laws and I think preserving local culture is important. So, globalization is a 'mixed bag.'
geff82 9y ago
As an alternative I want to mention the very convenient Dubai Internet City, which is a free zone next to the Dubai Marina district. I was there, left a good impression on me, and the also have no big problem when you trade with other non-freezone companies in the UAE. Microsoft, Oracle and IBM all have a place there.
- happyslobro 9y ago
  Ditto, relocated there from Doha. It is conveniently close to a large cluster of AirBnBs, which helps out big time while waiting for a resident's permit.
  - geff82 9y ago
    How long did it take you to get a resident's permit? Seemed to me like this process would be quite fast.
    - happyslobro 9y ago
      It probably could be fast, if you have all your ducks lined up. UAE immigration wanted me to go back to Canada to pick up a fresh notarized copy of my educational and criminal records. I really don't understand why this kind of thing can't be done over a video conference, and then printed, stamped, scanned, emailed, printed locally. But, I got a nice little trip to my hometown out of it, so whatever.
vinceyuan 9y ago
Oh, when I read the title, I wrongly thought it's Digital-Free Trade Zone, a trade zone without any digital methods. :D

49 points by diehell 9y ago

danielvf 9y ago

Is this just a normal free trade zone with "digital" tacked onto the name?

wmf 9y ago
No, see, you can file your customs paperwork digitally.
contingencies 9y ago
Cynically: No, it's "Cyber" prepended to "jaya" (used to mean "city" in Malaysia, but apparently derived from Sanskrit for 'victory', ie. a place where a battle was won) - ie. a rebranding of "The city at the place of the victory of the battle of Cyber" to "digital free trade zone". Realistically: Maybe in part. It looks like in part they are trying to challenge Singapore for air freight logistics. Unfortunately KLIA is miles from KL and nobody really lives out there, so even though you get "express freight handling" the only major nearby markets accessible by road are Singapore and KL (plus some second-tier peninsular Malaysian cities) and in the former case you have to pay to cross another border. Amusingly: On their promotional video they tout the future as being "borderless" - quite funny as KL is known to be a global center for forged, modified and stolen passports and other identity documentation.

jpatokal 9y ago

Sounds like a branding refresh for the Multimedia Super Corridor: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSC_Malaysia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSC_Malaysia

amirbehzad 9y ago
It is.

walrus01 9y ago

You only need to google "Malaysia internet sharia law" to understand why it would be a very poor idea to invest in datacenter/telecom infrastructure in Malaysia, domestically. The government is going the same direction as Turkey recently. https://www.google.com/search?q=malaysia+internet+sharia+law&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=malaysia+internet+sharia+law... In my opinion it's ethically the same as deciding to operate a datacenter in mainland China and sign up for all the government laws, regulations and oversight that goes with it: You can do it from a technical perspective, but many US based companies have explicitly chosen not to do so based on their own ethical standards.

contingencies 9y ago
I agree about Malaysia: it is extremely corrupt and abuses of power are the norm rather than the exception. That said, US and UK government interventionism and surveillance is really not that different to China. The UK is actually worse in many ways. For example, the UK is reported to record all internet traffic and have the most concurrent media gag orders in operation of any nation.
- walrus01 9y ago
  The UK is at this point far worse than the US. At least in the US you can publish very nearly anything on your own servers, fully self hosted, and not get it taken down unless it is explicitly making terroristic threats or hosting child porn. There's a huge amount of first amendment precedent set for parody, satire and generally offensive things (Hustler Magazine parodying Jerry Falwell, for example) that meets the criteria for being protected by the first amendment. The UK at least pays lip service to being a secular society. Where it gets scary to me is politicians in religious countries actively implementing sharia law in relations to internet/telecom to appease a fundamentalist base. I agree that the UK is going a very worrying direction, forcing retail ISPs to operate a "porn filter" and have it enabled by default, and so forth.
toomanybeersies 9y ago
It's not even just the government. I wouldn't store any confidential/secure data in a country that you can bribe cops for relatively trivial sums in. That does end up writing off most of the world for storage, admittedly.

mark_l_watson 9y ago

re: first video on page: I like Jack Ma and often agree with him, but his view on globalization is I think incorrect. Sure globalization has helped lift many people in the world out of poverty (good thing!) but I can't buy into giving up countrys' rights to have their own laws and I think preserving local culture is important. So, globalization is a 'mixed bag.'

geff82 9y ago

As an alternative I want to mention the very convenient Dubai Internet City, which is a free zone next to the Dubai Marina district. I was there, left a good impression on me, and the also have no big problem when you trade with other non-freezone companies in the UAE. Microsoft, Oracle and IBM all have a place there.

happyslobro 9y ago
Ditto, relocated there from Doha. It is conveniently close to a large cluster of AirBnBs, which helps out big time while waiting for a resident's permit.
- geff82 9y ago
  How long did it take you to get a resident's permit? Seemed to me like this process would be quite fast.
  - happyslobro 9y ago
    It probably could be fast, if you have all your ducks lined up. UAE immigration wanted me to go back to Canada to pick up a fresh notarized copy of my educational and criminal records. I really don't understand why this kind of thing can't be done over a video conference, and then printed, stamped, scanned, emailed, printed locally. But, I got a nice little trip to my hometown out of it, so whatever.

vinceyuan 9y ago

Oh, when I read the title, I wrongly thought it's Digital-Free Trade Zone, a trade zone without any digital methods. :D