IT BYTES BACK! says: Wake up to the Rot!

It does seem that the health and sustainability of two critical Malaysian industries – data centres and financial services, is suffering due to the lack of effective action from local regulators and authorities. 

It does also seem that over the past year, the age old Beast that reeks of political meddling, inefficiencies and red tape, has caught up with two of these considerably ‘mature’ sectors – which for a while, looked to have the full potential to propel Malaysia to the Next Level.

Actually, it all boils down to regulation and creating a conducive environment for growth. From where I stand as a member of the local tech industry, I have seen first-hand, the protectionist attitude that is leaving our local boys behind to eat dust, literally.

Take for example, our data manufacturers – those who are at the heart of the  local data centre industry. The mass of them, are  almost always overlooked when it comes to the incentives that really matter. If any (real) little support there is, it is often snatched up by the bigger boys with more teeth and ties to those ‘up there’ who matter.

And now, the Malaysian fintech startup ecosystem is faced with the same situation as foreign fintechs are prioritised and favoured by the larger local banks. Many fintech startups have testified to the very long queue they need to wait in, in order to collaborate with the local banks as well as foreign fintech players!

In the case of our fintech startups, there are  THREE regulators who are NOT ON THE SAME PAGE – something that is very counter-productive for such a high-growth sector which could propel Malaysia’s digital economy agenda forward.

As for our digital economy ambitions, MDEC – the ‘enabler’ of the Malaysian digital economy…No offence, but many have opinined both publicly and privately that it is an organisation that is ‘set up to fail’. More specifically the grouse is that MDEC seemingly supports, enables and empowers you to all that is needed, but hey wait… there is a huge BUT here, because the license (or regulatory portion) is required from another agency!

In essence, the market simply sees MDEC as a puppet because it is NOT empowered to do what it claims it can do, and certainly is NOT an enforcer with the right  expertise to take the two sectors forward.

The board of directors at MDEC is just another pawn on the big politics chessboard and just another piece of machinery to drive headlines and image mileage for its ‘secret’ stakeholders.

Honestly, take a look at MDEC’s board of directors – do any of them have real hands-on experience in the digital economy? Wouldn’t we be better served by having industry players, experts, business mentors on board?

Above all, politics shouldn’t be involved in this! Just one good example is Endeavour.org, a global non-profit that was set up by entrepreneurs to help entrepreneurs and mentor startups. And they are doing well, in fact better than MDEC.

Nobody plays in a cohesive way with a clear and big picture in mind. They focus on the latest shiny thing on the horizon like the DFTZ, just because it is in the limelight and creates headlines… wait till the next new shiny thing comes along!

IT BYTES BACK! SAYS: Our local industry is being led by the nose by parties that are easily enchanted by the next big thing. Protectionism, slowslacksisms! Malaysia should be for local Malaysians – fix and grow the flowers in our own backyard before trying to pollinate it with alien ones!