As Malaysia prepares to celebrate its 69th Independence Day on 31 August 2026, I have been thinking about what independence means beyond flags, parades and remembering the historic moment of 1957. For almost seven decades, Malaysia has governed itself, built its own industries, developed universities, trained engineers and scientists, and created companies capable of developing technologies that once had to be imported.
Yet after building Favoriot since 2017, I have come to realise that there is another form of independence that may take much longer to achieve. It is the independence of our mindset, particularly the confidence to believe that technology developed by Malaysians can stand alongside technology carrying famous international brands.
Building Favoriot as a Malaysian Technology Company
When we started Favoriot in 2017, we wanted to build an IoT platform here in Malaysia rather than simply becoming a reseller of somebody else’s technology. It meant developing our own platform, supporting users, improving the technology continuously and learning from actual deployments. Over the years, Favoriot has been used by students, researchers, developers, universities, system integrators and organisations, both locally and internationally.
Throughout these years, we have proudly promoted the message “Made by Malaysia.” We also pursued and obtained MySTI certification, which recognises Malaysian technologies and products developed through local research, development and technical capabilities. Getting certified was meaningful to us, but it also taught me something else. Certification can validate a technology, but a certificate alone cannot change how people perceive locally developed products.
That remains one of the harder challenges we face.
The Advantage of Having a Foreign Brand
In many technology discussions, I have noticed how differently people sometimes react to international and Malaysian brands. When a well-known overseas company presents a solution, there can be an immediate assumption that the technology is mature, reliable and proven. When a Malaysian company presents a comparable solution, the conversation may begin with questions about whether we have the capability, experience or scale to deliver it.
There is nothing wrong with questioning a technology provider. Every supplier should be evaluated carefully, including Favoriot. The problem appears when the level of confidence is determined by the origin of the brand rather than what the technology can actually do. An international logo should not automatically become a certificate of technical superiority, just as a Malaysian logo should not automatically create doubt.
I am also not suggesting that Malaysian organisations should stop buying foreign technology. We need technologies from around the world, and competition makes everyone better. What I hope to see is a more balanced evaluation where Malaysian products are given the same opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities based on technical requirements, performance, support, security, cost and suitability for the organisation.
How Can Malaysian Companies Become Global If Malaysians Do Not Give Them a Chance?
We often ask why Malaysia has not produced more global technology companies. Perhaps part of the answer lies much closer to home. Every successful international technology company was once a small local company that few people outside its home market recognised. Before it became a global brand, there were customers, partners and organisations willing to become its early believers.
Malaysian technology companies need those believers too. If local companies are expected to become successful internationally before Malaysian organisations are prepared to trust them, we create an almost impossible cycle. We ask them to prove themselves globally, yet deny them the local references, deployments, revenue and experience that could help them reach the global market.
This is why supporting Malaysian technology should not be confused with giving local companies special treatment. Local companies should still have to prove themselves. They should meet technical specifications, cybersecurity requirements, service commitments and performance expectations. If they cannot deliver, customers should have every right to choose another solution.
What we are asking for is something much simpler: give Malaysian technology a genuine opportunity to compete.
Give Us the Opportunity to Prove Ourselves
Perhaps government agencies, government-linked companies and private organisations could begin evaluating local technology with a different set of questions:
- Can this Malaysian technology meet our technical and operational requirements?
- Has the company demonstrated that the product actually works?
- Can local support provide faster response and closer engagement?
- Can the solution be adapted to Malaysian requirements rather than forcing us to follow a global template?
- Can a pilot or controlled deployment allow the company to prove its capabilities?
- Could becoming an early customer help create a Malaysian company capable of competing internationally?
These questions do not lower the bar. They simply give Malaysian companies a fair chance to reach it.
For Favoriot, we have spent the years since 2017 building, improving, promoting, supporting and proving ourselves. We may not have the marketing budgets, global offices or brand recognition of the largest international technology companies, but those things should not be confused with the capability of the technology itself.
Perhaps Our Next Merdeka Is a Merdeka of Mindset
On 31 August 2026, Malaysians will once again raise the Jalur Gemilang and celebrate the independence achieved in 1957. We should be proud of how far the country has come, but independence should also encourage us to ask whether some old assumptions are still influencing how we see ourselves.
Malaysia cannot aspire to become a technology-producing country while continuing to believe that the best technology must come from somewhere else. We cannot keep asking where the next Malaysian global technology company will come from while hesitating to become the customers who help create one.
I do not know whether Favoriot will eventually become a globally recognised Malaysian technology company. What I do know is that we will continue trying. Every Malaysian technology company that carries the country’s name beyond our shores has to start somewhere, and very often that starting point is the confidence given by customers and partners at home.
So, this Merdeka, perhaps we should celebrate not only our freedom as a nation but also challenge ourselves to achieve another kind of independence: the confidence to judge Malaysian technology by what it can do rather than where it comes from.
“Merdeka gave us the freedom to build our own nation. Our next Merdeka is the confidence to believe that Malaysians can build technology the world will one day choose.”