new economy

　　

Johor, the southernmost part of the Malay Peninsula, borders Singapore. On a shallow bend of the Johor Strait, a new, one-kilometre long levee, like an umbilical cord, connects Malaysia and Singapore. The new media has used "the connection across a water, the watch of a kilometer road" to describe Johor, the most closely linked land between Singapore and Malaysia. Today, on the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Malaysia, this land marks another milestone in the development history of the two countries.

On January 7, 2025, in the presence of Singaporean Prime Minister Wong Xunchay and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, representatives of the two countries officially exchanged an agreement to jointly establish the Johor Singapore Special Economic Zone (Johor Singapore Special Economic Zone).

The British Economist magazine once commented on the special economic zones: "There are more than 4,000 special economic zones in the world, and the number one success story is the 'Shenzhen miracle'".

In March 2024, the Secretary of State (Governor) of Johor led a delegation to Shenzhen, China, hoping to gain an in-depth understanding of China's experience in the development of special economic zones and build the Johor new Special Economic Zone into a "Shenzhen of Southeast Asia".

At that time, Shenzhen Radio and Television Group's "Straight China" bilingual program was preparing to go deep into Malaysia to shoot, as a program director, I was immediately attracted by this news. With only two days to go before the delegation leaves for Shenzhen, we quickly got in touch with Lawmaker Lee Tinghan, who is responsible for the delegation, through our partner media in Malaysia. As an executive councillor in charge of investment, trade and other affairs in Johor, and one of the key officials in the team to build the Johor new Special Economic Zone, Mr Lee was one of the busiest officials on the trip. I was worried that the temporary invitation would distract him from his already busy schedule, but Li Tinghan expressed his interest in the location chosen for filming and readily agreed to the interview invitation. Two days later, we met the Johor official for the first time in Shenzhen.

Li Tinghan is no stranger to China. During his university years, he applied for exchange studies in China twice and witnessed the rapid development of China. He told us that he had been to Shenzhen four times, and almost every time he came, the city was refreshing. At the beginning of planning the district, they compared the special economic zones around the world, agreed that Shenzhen is the best, so when they envisioned the establishment of special economic zones, the first thought of Shenzhen.

During our tight filming schedule in Shenzhen, we visited the Shenzhen Reform and Opening Up Exhibition Centre and the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Dream Workshop to explore the development code along the context of the Special Administrative Region. When visiting the Reform and opening Up Exhibition Hall, there was a sentence that deeply touched Li Tinghan - "do not go back to the road". Li Tinghan sighed that this sentence fully showed the courage and determination of reform, and he hoped that as long as the new Special Zone was announced, it would "not go back".

The background of The Times is different, the national conditions of the two countries are different, why the phrase "no turning back" will resonate with the empathy of the young Malaysian official? With such curiosity, my colleagues and I came to Johor, Malaysia, to meet Lee Tinghan again.

At that time, only nine months from the official establishment of the new Special Zone, but there were still many things to clarify, and Li Tinghan was busy day by day. In a day of intense work, we followed the footsteps of the founder of the new Special zone, from the state government to the port to the industrial park, and saw the challenges he faced because of reform and the doubts he suffered because of his youth.

In fact, this is not the first time Johor has tried to lead the way in development by setting up special economic zones. As early as 19 years ago, Johor had been ambitious to set up the Iskandar Special Economic Zone. However, the Iskandar SEZ's development has not been satisfactory, because neither Malaysia nor Singapore has made the commitment to radical reform. Li Tinghan admitted that although Malaysia and Singapore are very friendly countries, but in order to open up the legal regulations of the two countries in the Special Zone, it is bound to involve their respective national interests, and the two sides will have different views in all aspects, and they need to coordinate step by step.

How to make the Johor Special Economic Zone walk a new path, different from the Iskandar Special economic Zone, is the problem facing the younger generation of Johor officials such as Lee Ting Han. In the face of countless questions and pressure on the road to reform, what resonated in Li Tinghan's mind was the sentence "not to go back" that impressed him most in Shenzhen.

As the official in charge of Johor trade and investment, Li Tinghan also hopes to find a new way for the development of Johor New Special Zone from the experience of Shenzhen's industrial iteration. During its visit to Shenzhen in March last year, the Johor delegation intensively inspected leading companies in the communication, data, robotics, artificial intelligence and other industries. Li Tinghan told us that Shenzhen has developed from a fishing village to a labor-intensive "world factory" and then transformed into a technology-intensive "Silicon Valley of China", which not only makes them pay attention to the fast "Shenzhen speed", but also makes them feel that "Shenzhen speed" is fast and good, and has walked out of the road of high-quality and sustainable development.

At present, Johor's industrial pillar is mainly concentrated in the mid - and low-end manufacturing industry. How to promote industrial transformation and upgrading through the east wind of special economic zones is Li Tinghan's "number one task" to attract investment. With the location advantage of proximity to Singapore, Johor has set its sights on the data sector, calling for the goal of building a "data hub in Southeast Asia". At first, outsiders were not enthusiastic about the goal. Li Tinghan bluntly, data is known as the "oil" in the era of digital economy, and data centers for Malaysia, is undoubtedly a quite new industry, if it is talked about data centers two years ago, no one will mention Malaysia, let alone Johor.

After several rounds of negotiations by Li Tinghan and others, Chinese enterprises GDS took the lead in casting a vote of confidence in Johor. In August 2023, GDS officially opened its hyperscale data center campus in Johor, Malaysia. At the same time, this is also the first time that China's largest third-party IDC (Internet data center) service provider has set sail to "go to sea". Based in Malaysia, activate the "overseas engine" of enterprises, and strive to achieve industrial upgrading of Johor and vigorously expand overseas markets to achieve a win-win situation.

After the Chinese company's data center landed, more and more data center companies saw the "new blue Ocean" of Johor's development. According to industry media statistics, there are currently 13 data centre facilities under construction in Johor, with another four under construction. The land is fast becoming a major player in the data center industry in Southeast Asia. Li Tinghan revealed that in the future, the new Special economic Zone will be based on data centers to further attract the development of science and technology enterprises, so that the special Zone can realize intelligence and enhance regional competitiveness.