Ma surprised by Dr M’s knowledge of technology
PUTRAJAYA: Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma met Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday and came away surprised at the prime minister’s knowledge of technology.
“I am surprised by his knowledge about technology,” he said after the meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office here.
He said during the one-hour meeting, from about 9am, they shared a lot of ideas and discussed how to lift more Malaysians out of poverty and support more young people and small businesses.
“It was a very good meeting,” said Ma, who was in Kuala Lumpur to open an Alibaba office in Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.
Ma was in Kuala Lumpur last year to launch the world’s first Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) to promote the growth of e-commerce by providing a state-of-theart platform for small- and medium-scale enterprises to conduct their businesses and services.
Ma had reportedly met Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng over an informal dinner on Sunday.
Media reports claimed that Ma had wanted to meet Dr Mahathir earlier this month, but the proposed meeting was postponed because Dr Mahathir wanted to focus on putting together his new government.
The previous Barisan Nasional government appointed Ma digital economy adviser.
Ma’s meeting with Dr Mahathir comes in the wake of the government’s pledge to review several Beijing-backed projects initiated by the BN government as it looks more to Japan for economic cooperation.
However, Dr Mahathir had reportedly said the DFTZ project would go on.