Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have shown interest to turn Malaysia into a regional hub, said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. The remark was made during a town hall session with Johor’s state civil servants in Johor Bharu earlier today, according to a report by Bernama.

The PM stated the idea of having Malaysia as their regional hub came from the leaders of respective companies during a recent meeting with him. However, he then pointed out that the state of connectivity in Malaysia is hindering these companies as well as many others from turning that idea into reality.

PM Muhyiddin further added that the government is already committed to improving the nation’s connectivity and it is indeed time to move forward to expand the access.

Since these big tech companies have never publicly mentioned their interest in establishing a regional hub in Malaysia, it is rather hard to vouch for the remark made by PM Muhyiddin. Nevertheless, we are now reaching out to representatives of these companies to obtain official comments regarding this.

That being said, we are not surprised that the state of connectivity in Malaysia has stopped large corporations from setting up operations over here. It goes without saying that our connectivity still needs plenty of improvements if the country wants to make itself attractive to the global players.

As for its commitments towards better connectivity, we are aware that the government already have some plans in motion including National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan (NFCP) as well as 5G Malaysia’s pilot projects. Then again, implementation is still another matter altogether though.