Alibaba to continue investing in M’sia

HANGZHOU: Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group will not hold back its investment plans in Malaysia, according to its chief representative in Malaysia.

Speaking at the launch of Alibaba’s Malaysia Week here, James Song said it was business as usual for the group in Malaysia after the 14th General Election.

“We are very positive about bilateral relations. At the same time, we are confident of Malaysia’s future.

“We are fully confident of our projects in Malaysia, so there is no stepping back. We are going to continue to invest in Malaysia,” he said.

Song was responding to a question on whether the group would slow down on its investments in Malaysia.

There has been growing concern over Malaysia-China relations following the Pakatan Harapan government’s move to review several China-linked mega projects.

On Thursday, the Finance Ministry issued a suspension notice through MoF Inc for all contracts related to the China-linked Multi-Product Pipeline, the Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline, and the East Coast Rail Link projects.

Song said he was with the group’s founder and executive chairman Jack Ma when the latter visited Malaysia last month.

“I think what we saw and what he heard proved there is nothing wrong between the two countries. There are no negative signs,” he said.

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) chief operating officer Datuk Ng Wan Peng assured all that the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) project was ongoing.

However, she did not give an exact answer when pressed on whether other Alibaba projects in Malaysia would be reviewed.

“If you follow Ma’s speech, he said that it is good to review the projects.

“If you don’t review then something must be wrong. So we go by what he says. Projects can always be reviewed but it is meant to be better,” she said at the same event.

On Friday, Alibaba launched a week-long “Malaysia Week” campaign here featuring the “must-see, must-eat and must-experience” of Malaysian products and tourism services on alibaba.com, Tmall and Alitrip.

Ng said Malaysia Week showed the commitment of the Malaysian Government and Alibaba.

“The investment of Alibaba is real. Ma’s visit to Malaysia three weeks ago also showed that its commitment is real,” she said.

It was reported earlier that Alibaba Group has invested US$100mil (RM400mil) on its various initiatives in Malaysia, following the announcement to establish the DFTZ with the Government.

DFTZ was launched by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last year.

Alibaba, which is committed to assisting small businesses sell their products to more markets, opened a data centre in Malaysia in October last year.

It has also signed an agreement with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall for the latter to use its cloud services to implement the “City Brain” initiative aimed at easing traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur.