@conquerplay @lorington That alone show them got manner at all. Not suitable stay in Malaysia.
English
dorkambivert
480 posts
@lorington The promo video referred the island as being close to Singapore and did not mention the host country - it's disrespectful and also indicates that there will be no serious benefits to Malaysia in the long run by having the school.
English
I've been a member at Network School for nearly 2 months, and I would like to do my best to refute the claim that NS is a 'threat to Malaysian sovereignty'.
Most of it comes from people who haven't read the book. It's free, so if you haven't, start here: thenetworkstate.com/the-network-st… 🧵
English
@samhbarton @FirdausIsmail92 @ns @anwaribrahim They bring ideology about making mirco country. That alone is threat Malaysia's sovereign.
English
No I thought about it. There’s a variety of perspectives, some Malaysians are very much in favour of it.
Some of the concerns seemed to be rooted in antisemitic nonsense
I think it could be extremely good for Malaysia and Malaysians. There’s so much Malaysian has to offer and there’s great talent there (most end up leaving though). This could make Malaysia a global tech hub and be a source of prosperity (maybe even surpass the gpd of Singapore)
Anyway would love to hear about the sorts of concerns you’re thinking of here
English
I lived in Malaysia from 8-19 years of age. While I’ve never been, I’m confident in saying the Network School @ns is one of the best things that could have happened for the country and a could be huge driver of prosperity in the near future
@anwaribrahim
Balaji@balajis
Should the global tech community continue investing in Malaysia? Given recent events, I raise this question respectfully for the consideration of Prime Minister Yang Amat Berhormat Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim), for the people of Malaysia, and for our friends in the Malaysian tech community. The answer will be of interest to anyone in global tech that’s considering building, investing, or expanding in Malaysia, including executives at Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, founders of tech unicorns like Coinbase and Solana, and investors at the world’s largest venture capital funds like a16z and Polychain. As context, I am the former CTO of Coinbase and former General Partner at a16z. In October 2024, I opened a startup society called Network School in Malaysia, because I felt I’d been invited in by the government’s pro-tech policies. Specifically, the KL20 initiative set out Malaysia’s ambition of becoming a top 20 global tech hub. Their MDEC digital nomad visas and MM2H investor visas were created to facilitate an influx of global talent and capital. And the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone was announced to facilitate the flow of capital and talent between Malaysia and Singapore, where I live. When taken in combination with Malaysia’s datacenter buildout and its policy of welcoming visa-free visits for 98% of the world, it seemed like Malaysia might be a great place to build a global tech hub that was simultaneously inexpensive and easy to visit (especially for non-Westerners). And that’s what we did, by creating Network School. It’s an international tech community with its first node in Forest City, Malaysia. We picked Forest City because it had millions of square feet of empty space, because it was one hour from Singapore’s capital markets, and because it was within the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. Then, within 18 months, without a single penny of government money, we built Network School into a global attraction that brought thousands of engineers, investors, and builders from 70+ countries to learn technology, burn calories, earn online, and have fun, integrating with the local Malaysian economy along the way. Indeed, in terms of quantifiable contribution to the Malaysian economy, we’ve already invested 100M+ MYR in our campus to make it startup-friendly. For perspective, that’s about 4% of the budget of Johor, the Malaysian state where Forest City is located. We employ dozens of Malaysians directly and indirectly at every level from executive to staff. We’ve backed Malaysian tech startups like Collektr, hosted events for local teams like Superteam Malaysia, and are major customers of many local businesses like barbers, laundromats, and restaurants. We’ve also revitalized the multibillion-dollar Forest City project, causing millions of MYR in real estate appreciation. And, as the video below describes, we were on the cusp of a 500M+ MYR expansion to grow our community, as well as a global merit scholarship with my friend Amjad Masad of Replit. However, that emerging multi-billion dollar success story — which should rightfully have been hailed as a huge victory for the pro-tech policies of the Malaysian government — is at risk of being derailed by a fake story spread by an anonymous account named MP4P. In short: on the day before the July 11 Johor elections, MP4P posted an Instagram post falsely accusing Network School of harboring illegal aliens. The sensational accusations caused a tizzy in Malaysia, until Malaysian authorities came to our campus on July 14 to investigate. (I should note that the officers were very polite and professional.) After checking hundreds of physical passports from 40 countries, including dual passport holders, the authorities confirmed to the press on July 15 that all travel documents were in order. During the process, we cooperated fully; in the thread below you can see a photo of the men, women, and children of Network School smiling and holding up their passports in the bright daylight. Our faces are shown and our names are known; we have nothing to hide. With that said, the process is the punishment. What MP4P did is very similar to the American crime of “swatting”, because MP4P created a hoax report of a serious threat, thereby forcing the Malaysian police to take time away from protecting the Malaysian people towards investigating a nonexistent issue. Moreover, this anonymous MP4P account has also called for Malaysia to boycott Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft…a move that would cost ordinary Malaysians thousands of jobs…even while MP4P’s own Instagram collaborators promote their Apple and Google apps! I mean, we aren’t talking about a credible accuser, but just someone screaming inconsistently at the top of their lungs on social media for traffic, an all-too-common phenomenon these days. Anyway, at this point, all further investment we were planning to make in Malaysia is on hold until we get sufficient assurance that such issues won’t recur. So are the investment plans of many of our friends, including the execs and investors at global tech firms that we brought to Forest City. Because to put it very plainly: we have invested 100M+ MYR in Malaysia, while creating jobs for dozens of Malaysians, and our faces and names are known. Our Malaysian executives and employees deserve the benefit of the doubt over anonymous internet trolls. There are two paths forward. In the first case, if Malaysia still wants continued global tech investment, if it wants to be a top 20 tech hub, if it wants us to revitalize Forest City, then we request an audience with the Prime Minister’s office to discuss the terms of a memorandum of understanding between Network School and the Malaysian government, similar to the document recently signed between the Solana Foundation and the Kazakhstan government. Specifics can of course be discussed, but we would publicly commit to abiding by all Malaysian laws (we already do) and respecting Malaysia’s sovereignty (never in question). In return, they’d get to know our friendly community, and realize that we actually chose Malaysia because we thought it was a great place to build a tech hub where engineers from the global South, investors from the West, and builders from Malaysia itself could meet new people, build cool things, and perhaps create millions of dollars in economic growth in the fullness of time. That vision of peace and trade, internationalism and entrepreneurialism, is still on the table. We aren’t asking for any money — just a meeting, to help restore confidence in Malaysia as an investable jurisdiction. Alternatively, if you don’t want our investment, or those of our colleagues at billion dollar funds and trillion dollar companies, we will of course respect your wishes, and reallocate our capital to other countries instead. Either way, we will remain friends and abide by your decision. Please let us know.
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@AyamElgoog @PuteriFoo They are coming for all Muslim country in the world.
English
@PuteriFoo It's really a calculated move by the higher ups there. They already finished attack Muslims in the ME and now their new agenda is the Muslim majority ones ie Indonesia/Malaysia.
English
Malaysia akhir-akhir ini macam jadi sasaran media antarabangsa. Berita negatif bertubi-tubi, sampai kita kena trashed teruk tanpa henti.
Rasanya kita sedang di-target secara tidak adil lah. Kenapa pulak Malaysia yang kena fokus macam ni? Ada agenda ke belakang ni?
Indonesia
@AndriesKerp Doesn't have educational permit to open the school. Doesn't even pay taxes in Malaysia. Get f out from Malaysia.
English
TLDR: The Network School hasn't broken any law and is shut down arbitrarily, an act of pure populism demonstrating Malaysia's lacking rule of law.
dasha@0xdasha
balaji’s anti-western polycule that produced no economic output, a sex camp established in the great nation of malaysia with the sole purpose of trafficking brown “young adults” for wealthy american tech bros is officially OVER
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@BarefistPirate @mustapa2008 @nasdaily @balajis Im pretty sure the world now know that this is forward thinking. Banning uncivilized monkey is not backwards.
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@AndriesKerp @nasdaily @balajis Don't try to gaslight us Malaysians. We can see your schemes from miles away. Malaysia is on of the busiest port hub in the world. Our train LRT and Monorail system are far more supreme and clean than USA underground train. Our peoples are the most friendly and polite in Asia.
English
@saysuttintho @ns They don't even try to learn about culture, race and religion here. Can't barely diffrenate that Malaysian Malays Muslims words have different meaning with Malaysian Muslims.
English
Notice how it’s only white or non-Malaysians who are praising Network School @ns and Balaji on here. Don’t be fooled - they never cared about Malaysia in the first place.
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@victorone111 Get your freaking self out from Malaysia. Malaysia doesn't need any more problem at it is.
English
I’ve said it many times: if Malaysia had governance on Dubai’s level, its leaders wouldn’t need to be especially smart or do anything special—just copy Dubai completely, and by now it would definitely be developing even better than Dubai itself. It’s a shame these Malays governors are utterly foolish. I lived in Kuala Lumpur for a year. This place has some of the smartest, most hardworking Chinese people in the world, and @MantaNetwork , like Network School, once had a real desire to build something in Kuala Lumpur—we even ran many events to support local developers. Unfortunately, the extremely corrupt system here rejected my digital nomad visa twice. The second time, they were the ones who suggested I apply, and then rejected me for no reason—all so that I, like most Chinese people, would apply for the Second Home program, which lets them make more money, or go through one of their partner “agencies” and pay yet another fee. Everything on the so-called Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (@mymdec ) website is nonsense. There are no transparent rules, different government departments each say different things, there’s no good business environment—this country simply cannot develop. Sometimes I feel genuinely sorry for the people of Penang: it was also a majority-Chinese city after World War II, but because it didn’t become independent like Singapore, all it has left now is good food and beautiful beaches. Biguiyuan Country Garden’s Chinese model failed in Johor Bahru, Balaji’s American model failed in Johor Bahru too, and in the future there won’t be enough foreign investment to succeed either, not in this corrupt business environment
Onn Hafiz Ghazi@onnhafiz
KENYATAAN MEDIA PEMBATALAN LESEN PERNIAGAAN DAN ARAHAN PENGHENTIAN OPERASI NS0 MALAYSIA SDN. BHD. (NETWORK SCHOOL) DI FOREST CITY 1. Kerajaan Negeri Johor mengambil maklum dan menyokong sepenuhnya keputusan Mesyuarat Penuh Khas Majlis Bandaraya Iskandar Puteri (MBIP) untuk membatalkan lesen perniagaan serta mengarahkan semua aktiviti NS0 Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (Network School) di Forest City dihentikan, berkuat kuasa pada 22 Julai 2026. 2. Keputusan tersebut dibuat berdasarkan proses dan peruntukan undang-undang yang berkuat kuasa, selepas penelitian terhadap laporan pemeriksaan, dapatan penguatkuasaan serta representasi yang dikemukakan oleh pihak syarikat. 3. Untuk makluman, tindakan penguatkuasaan hanya boleh diambil selepas aduan serta maklumat disahkan, pemeriksaan dijalankan, ketidakpatuhan dikenal pasti dan proses undang-undang disempurnakan. Tempoh sesuatu premis beroperasi tidak bermakna semua aktivitinya sentiasa mematuhi syarat lesen. Apabila ketidakpatuhan dikenal pasti, tindakan mesti diambil tanpa kompromi. Kerajaan Negeri akan terus memperketat penyelarasan antara agensi agar sebarang ketidakpatuhan dapat dikesan dan ditangani segera. 4. Kerajaan Negeri ingin menegaskan bahawa Johor sentiasa mengalu-alukan pelaburan berkualiti tinggi yang memberi manfaat kepada ekonomi, mewujudkan peluang pekerjaan dan memacu pembangunan negeri. Namun begitu, tiada mana-mana pelabur, syarikat atau organisasi boleh diletakkan mengatasi kedaulatan undang-undang negara. 5. Dalam ruang lingkup bidang kuasa yang diperuntukkan, Kerajaan Negeri dan Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan tidak akan berkompromi terhadap sebarang pelanggaran undang-undang atau perkara yang boleh menjejaskan keselamatan, kedaulatan dan kepentingan negara. 6. Sehubungan itu, Kerajaan Negeri menggesa Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN), Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia (JIM), Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) serta agensi keselamatan berkaitan meneruskan siasatan dan mengambil tindakan tegas sekiranya terdapat penyalahgunaan pasport kedua, salah nyata identiti, pelanggaran syarat kemasukan atau apa-apa kesalahan di bawah undang-undang Malaysia. 7. Perkara ini tidak boleh dipandang ringan, lebih-lebih lagi apabila Johor merupakan pintu masuk strategik negara yang bersempadan dengan Singapura. Sebarang kelemahan atau penyalahgunaan sistem imigresen mesti ditangani segera, tegas dan tanpa kompromi. 8. Pada masa yang sama, Kerajaan Negeri menggesa Kementerian Digital dan Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) mengambil tindakan sewajarnya terhadap status Malaysia Digital atau sebarang pengiktirafan yang telah diberikan kepada organisasi berkenaan sekiranya terdapat ketidakpatuhan terhadap syarat atau prinsip yang ditetapkan. 9. Kerajaan Negeri turut menggesa semua agensi berkaitan memperketat proses “due diligence”, termasuk semakan latar belakang, pemilikan, sumber pembiayaan, bentuk operasi serta naratif yang dibawa oleh mana-mana syarikat atau organisasi. 10. Penyelarasan antara agensi juga perlu diperkukuh agar setiap pelaburan atau inisiatif antarabangsa diteliti secara menyeluruh dari aspek pelesenan, imigresen, keselamatan, penggunaan premis dan pematuhan undang-undang. Kerajaan Negeri akan terus bekerjasama dengan semua pihak bagi memastikan Johor kekal sebagai destinasi pelaburan yang diyakini, tanpa berkompromi terhadap keselamatan, kedaulatan dan undang-undang negara. 11. Semua perkara diatas telah disembah maklum serta perkenan kepada Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong serta Duli Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Mahkota Ismail, Pemangku Sultan Johor. Sekian. ONN HAFIZ GHAZI Menteri Besar Johor 21 Julai 2026
English
@victorone111 Do you know Dubai, Emiratis; 11.5% is the local population? They basically sold their land to foreigners, and you expect Malaysia to be like them? And UAE sold their soul by signing with the genocidal state.
English
Translation : scammers will opt out to invest in Malaysia
GTFO
Gonçalo Hall@Gonzohall
This being true, no entrepreneur will ever invest in Malaysia. It's a huge hit in Malaysia reputation as a business hub. And the end of Forrest city hopes. Interesting times. Let's see what happens.
English
@jjSuhaib @BicaraKrypto That is what Malaysians here trying to do.
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@BicaraKrypto From an outsider perspective it is as clear as day that those guys were actors with hidden agendas aimed at fracturing the nation so Malaysia wisely nipped a major risk in the bud and successfully saved itself from future chaos.
English
Yeah man!!!
Huge win for Singapore as Balaji can bring his $20 million there.
Congratulations Singapore...
Luke Croft@croftyler
@BicaraKrypto @balajis Malaysia has proven its backwardness to the world. No wonder Singapore is much more prosperous.
English
"Terima kasih, tapi saya nak tanah adat saya saja"
That one sentence says so much, at so many levels.
Simple, polite, but so powerful, and devastating.
2. Kenapa Orang Asli kena merempat dan lari daripada tanah diorang in the first place?
Mohon pencerahan.
Free Malaysia Today@fmtoday
Tengku Ampuan of Pahang invites displaced Orang Asli to live on her land 👇🧵
Indonesia
@KlutzyKucing Yeee get f out here. This is not your promise land. Not ounce respect toward our sovereignty. You barely know all inside Malaysia. Have knack try to claim our land.
English
They are being targeted for being Israeli, not for being Jewish. It is an action in opposition to a genocidal, apartheid regime - NOT against a religion. Big difference
Is Ohio in Malaysia now?
You should probably be thinking about the citizens you represent make sure they are doing well instead of fighting for another county.
English
@PeteTeo Bro look at this, there are tonnes of oppressive law in Malaysia and it oppresses Malay people(woman) themselves. Don't be a hypocrite. For a start, rectify the attached first and then can start correcting others
English
You know what?
Msia is imperfect. But she sanctioned apartheid South Africa decades b4 it was fashionable. She also supported Palestinians decades b4 the current global backlash vs Israel.
I cld show u more of our spine but there's no space.
Trust me, #ns is small potatoes.
Gonçalo Hall@Gonzohall
This being true, no entrepreneur will ever invest in Malaysia. It's a huge hit in Malaysia reputation as a business hub. And the end of Forrest city hopes. Interesting times. Let's see what happens.
English
@pravin_33 @PeteTeo Even more better those ai center gonna dry our clean water only.
English
@hartejsengh Yee get f out from here. Malaysians is not your average target scam victim.
English
I look forward to visiting Kazakhstan
What a huge loss for Malaysia and well, the entire se asia region in reality
Smart move by the govt of Kazakhstan
Balaji@balajis
I am pleased to announce that a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Republic of Kazakhstan and Network School. Our new campus will become a haven for global techno-optimism, with expedited visas, streamlined redomiciliation, and active recruitment of talent.
English
@NapierHolland @AzZagazig @Gonzohall @balajis @ns We don't have big salary but our health system and education system are cheap for us. Most local people here own their own land. Compare to others try to make micro country in this sovereign land.Get f out from Malaysia. We don't want your cheap investment here.
English
@AzZagazig @Gonzohall @balajis @ns I want everyone to have high salaries.
Singapore showed the world that a developing country can become hyper-developed by welcoming entrepreneurs.
English
Huge hit for all sides if this is final.
Malaysia reputation as a place to invest is destroyed.
@balajis @ns in Malaysia and all investment is destroyed.
The potential future of Forrest City is destroyed.
No winners. All losers.
Onn Hafiz Ghazi@onnhafiz
KENYATAAN MEDIA PEMBATALAN LESEN PERNIAGAAN DAN ARAHAN PENGHENTIAN OPERASI NS0 MALAYSIA SDN. BHD. (NETWORK SCHOOL) DI FOREST CITY 1. Kerajaan Negeri Johor mengambil maklum dan menyokong sepenuhnya keputusan Mesyuarat Penuh Khas Majlis Bandaraya Iskandar Puteri (MBIP) untuk membatalkan lesen perniagaan serta mengarahkan semua aktiviti NS0 Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (Network School) di Forest City dihentikan, berkuat kuasa pada 22 Julai 2026. 2. Keputusan tersebut dibuat berdasarkan proses dan peruntukan undang-undang yang berkuat kuasa, selepas penelitian terhadap laporan pemeriksaan, dapatan penguatkuasaan serta representasi yang dikemukakan oleh pihak syarikat. 3. Untuk makluman, tindakan penguatkuasaan hanya boleh diambil selepas aduan serta maklumat disahkan, pemeriksaan dijalankan, ketidakpatuhan dikenal pasti dan proses undang-undang disempurnakan. Tempoh sesuatu premis beroperasi tidak bermakna semua aktivitinya sentiasa mematuhi syarat lesen. Apabila ketidakpatuhan dikenal pasti, tindakan mesti diambil tanpa kompromi. Kerajaan Negeri akan terus memperketat penyelarasan antara agensi agar sebarang ketidakpatuhan dapat dikesan dan ditangani segera. 4. Kerajaan Negeri ingin menegaskan bahawa Johor sentiasa mengalu-alukan pelaburan berkualiti tinggi yang memberi manfaat kepada ekonomi, mewujudkan peluang pekerjaan dan memacu pembangunan negeri. Namun begitu, tiada mana-mana pelabur, syarikat atau organisasi boleh diletakkan mengatasi kedaulatan undang-undang negara. 5. Dalam ruang lingkup bidang kuasa yang diperuntukkan, Kerajaan Negeri dan Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan tidak akan berkompromi terhadap sebarang pelanggaran undang-undang atau perkara yang boleh menjejaskan keselamatan, kedaulatan dan kepentingan negara. 6. Sehubungan itu, Kerajaan Negeri menggesa Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN), Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia (JIM), Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) serta agensi keselamatan berkaitan meneruskan siasatan dan mengambil tindakan tegas sekiranya terdapat penyalahgunaan pasport kedua, salah nyata identiti, pelanggaran syarat kemasukan atau apa-apa kesalahan di bawah undang-undang Malaysia. 7. Perkara ini tidak boleh dipandang ringan, lebih-lebih lagi apabila Johor merupakan pintu masuk strategik negara yang bersempadan dengan Singapura. Sebarang kelemahan atau penyalahgunaan sistem imigresen mesti ditangani segera, tegas dan tanpa kompromi. 8. Pada masa yang sama, Kerajaan Negeri menggesa Kementerian Digital dan Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) mengambil tindakan sewajarnya terhadap status Malaysia Digital atau sebarang pengiktirafan yang telah diberikan kepada organisasi berkenaan sekiranya terdapat ketidakpatuhan terhadap syarat atau prinsip yang ditetapkan. 9. Kerajaan Negeri turut menggesa semua agensi berkaitan memperketat proses “due diligence”, termasuk semakan latar belakang, pemilikan, sumber pembiayaan, bentuk operasi serta naratif yang dibawa oleh mana-mana syarikat atau organisasi. 10. Penyelarasan antara agensi juga perlu diperkukuh agar setiap pelaburan atau inisiatif antarabangsa diteliti secara menyeluruh dari aspek pelesenan, imigresen, keselamatan, penggunaan premis dan pematuhan undang-undang. Kerajaan Negeri akan terus bekerjasama dengan semua pihak bagi memastikan Johor kekal sebagai destinasi pelaburan yang diyakini, tanpa berkompromi terhadap keselamatan, kedaulatan dan undang-undang negara. 11. Semua perkara diatas telah disembah maklum serta perkenan kepada Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong serta Duli Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Mahkota Ismail, Pemangku Sultan Johor. Sekian. ONN HAFIZ GHAZI Menteri Besar Johor 21 Julai 2026
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@Gonzohall @balajis @ns Good those people should take this as reason not to invest in Malaysia while harbor ideologies such as make micro country in this sovereign land.
English
@DrewPavlou You come to our country and stay at our land without paying tax? and threatening our sovereignty? Not ounce respect to Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Malays and Malaysian Muslims here? You enter our home? Don't you know at least be proper and respect the laws of land owner?
English
It's interesting how some Chinese Malaysians end up bowing and scraping to the Malaysian Islamists in an effort to try fit in and dissuade them from doing more anti-Chinese pogroms
Nathaniel Tan@NatAsasi
Balaji Srinivasan calls himself a "Tech Zionist." Like a Zionist, he wants to infiltrate Malaysia & carve out his own little fascist state in it. America wouldn't let him do it. Singapore wouldn't either. So now he thinks Malaysians are stupid, easy scam targets who will.🧵
English
@RaiCapitalInc Maybe you should try taking a bath in the morning
English
Balaji Srinivasan sounds like a keling name. Did he start this vision from kuil haram?
English