ISKANDAR PUTERI, Johor: The founder of Network School, a startup community based in Johor’s Forest City, says the organisation has put on hold any further investment in Malaysia and a planned RM500million (US$122 million) expansion after authorities launched a probe into claims that Israeli nationals were among its participants. Speaking out for the first time on Thursday (Jul 16) since the matter made the headlines this past week, Balaji Srinivasan - the American investor behind the organisation - said there are “two paths forward”, depending on whether Malaysia wants “continued global tech investment” or not. If Malaysia wants such investment, then he would like to seek a meeting with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to negotiate terms for a memorandum of understanding for Network School to continue its operations and investments in the country. “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,” Balaji wrote on X, adding that his outfit was “on the cusp of a RM500 million-plus expansion to grow our community”.
The high-profile probe follows public scrutiny over claims that some participants had entered Malaysia using passports from other countries. Malaysia, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, bars entry of Israeli passport holders as the countries do not have diplomatic relations. However, it reportedly does not have specific laws barring Israelis from using passports from a second country. In his statement, Balaji claimed that the Network School had invested over RM100 million in its Forest City campus and employed dozens of Malaysians, directly and indirectly, at every level from executive to staff members.“We’ve also revitalised the multibillion-dollar Forest City project, causing millions of ringgit in real estate appreciation,” he claimed.
