What could change in Malaysia’s tech scene post-elections

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Hello reader,

At university, I did a double major in communications and political studies. Communications was always going to be my top choice, and the second major was a toss up between politics, sociology, and linguistics.

Shout out to the University of Melbourne for having introductory lectures that help undergrads figure out what majors they wanted to commit to. That year, the linguistics lecture was canceled, the sociology one was just okay, but the politics session really caught my attention. It was also a nice little bonus that I got the same lecturer for a US politics module that I took a couple semesters later.

So yes, I do have a general interest in politics, albeit mainly in the mechanisms of the various forms of government and how they’ve been employed. I had no intention of being a politician myself. In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “I’m not brave enough for politics.”

This academic interest has persisted, so you can imagine my delight when I started reading my colleague Emmanuel’s Dan Lain-Lain weekly column, which looks at the goings-on in the Malaysia tech scene and comes with a healthy dose of current affairs, policy, and politics.

With elections in the country having concluded just recently, it’s been very intriguing to read about how the political shifts could affect the country’s tech sphere. The latest edition of his column likens the new government to a startup. Read on to see what that means exactly.

Today we look at:

• Malaysia’s new “startup” government
• The US$1 million seed round of a Vietnamese B2B F&B ordering platform
• Other newsy highlights such as a Malaysian nutrition company’s US$270 million SPAC and Akulaku potentially getting US$200 million from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group

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Politics and tech in Malaysia

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Chances are that most people aren’t thinking about the tech scene when it comes to the recently concluded Malaysian elections. But hey, that’s what specialist publications like Tech in Asia are here for: to find angles that may have been otherwise overlooked.

Today, we take a look at some of the latest developments in the country and why its new government is akin to a startup.

• Unprecedented makeup: With the government formed by a coalition of three parties – each with markedly different ideals – the composition of its ministers and the coalitions that they represent are a first for Malaysia.
• More touchpoints: The digital communications and science and innovation ministries – both helmed by first-time ministers: Fahmi Fadzil and Chang Lih Kang, respectively – are likely to engage the startup space in some capacity, especially for research and development.
• New focus? Economic affairs minister Rafizi Ramli, who runs an AI startup called Invoke Solutions, has hinted that Malaysia will move away from being a commodities-driven market, which it has been since forever. So there’s a glimmer of hope that we’ll see a more lively startup space with a greater emphasis on tech and digital policies as well as funding.

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