MSC inspires the creation of Alibaba

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) was instrumental in inspiring the establishment of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.

The group’s co-founder and executive chairman Jack Ma said on Monday that the MSC concept could also empower Malaysian small and medium enterprises, complemented by Alibaba’s electronic world trade platform initiative. 

“One day, I was reading the newspaper and saw a news on the MSC. I said “wow”, this is a genius idea.

“The day I read the news in 1997, I said if Malaysia could, why cannot it happen in China?

“So Malaysia inspired me on Alibaba, and this morning, I thanked the prime minister for his great inspiration for the MSC,” Ma said at the opening of Alibaba’s first Southeast-Asia office here in Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur.

The MSC framework was first conceptualised in 1996 under the then administration of Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to spearhead digital transformation in Malaysia. On the other hand, e-commerce player Alibaba was established in 1999.