KUALA LUMPUR – Homegrown tech company Asia Mobiliti Technologies Sdn Bhd, which found itself in the spotlight recently over its links with a cabinet minister, has emphasised its goal of establishing state of the art technology for Malaysia’s transportation sector.
The firm’s appointment, as one of two companies selected to run Selangor’s Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) at a proof-of-concept (PoC) phase, courted controversy as its co-founder and chief executive officer Ramachandran Muniandy is married to Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.
While Asia Mobiliti and Yeoh, who is also DAP’s Segambut MP, have been the target of public ire over the company’s selection, Ramachandran said the firm is not merely motivated by profits as it also aims to boost technological advancements worldwide, beginning in their home country.
“We’re a proudly Malaysian company, we’ve built everything here in Malaysia. We see that as a key strategic advantage for the business… we’re building (technology) in Malaysia for the rest of the developing world,” he said as a recent guest on the Trick Lama podcast.
The podcast is hosted by the three founders of Big Boom Media, which publishes Scoop – group chief executive Datuk Zainul Ariffin, group executive Datuk Ahirudin Attan (aka Rocky Bru) and group editor-in-chief Terence Fernandez.
Also a guest on the podcast was Asia Mobiliti co-founder Premesh Chandran, who is also co-founder and former chief executive officer of news portal MalaysiaKini.
Ramachandran also said the company is actively fundraising for its various services, including other software systems not linked to the DRT pilot project.
“When we fundraise, it’s not just for one product, but for the business as a whole (as) we also provide other systems for traditional transport service providers to use (with a) selection of different products.
“We have new regional investors coming in who’d like us to enter their market. (Dispute over Asia Mobiliti’s selection in the Selangor Mobiliti programme) doesn’t change our growth plans. Instead, they’re accelerating,” he added.
“It just so happens that we’re the first DRT pioneers in Malaysia. We were the first ones to build the technology here and we were the first to get approval from the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad) and be regulated.”
According to an explainer on its website, Asia Mobiliti was founded in 2018 as a local-based mobility-as-a-service platform and digital city solutions provider seeking to enable “intelligent mobility by adopting a tech-centric approach with a core software-defined engine”.
Selangor Investment, Trade and Mobility executive councillor Ng Sze Han has said the decision to involve only Asia Mobiliti and another firm, Badan Bas Coach Sdn Bhd, in the proof-of-concept phase was based on the fact that they were the only companies licenced by Apad.
Each company received equal funding of RM2.1 million from Selangor, disbursed in three phases to prevent abuse of state funds and to subsidise users during the proof-of-concept.
The DRT system is a shared transportation service that groups passengers based on their locations and sends vehicles accordingly. This system can adjust routes on-demand, unlike traditional services that adhere to fixed routes and schedules.
While Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Tan Sri Azam Baki previously said the anti-graft agency has no issue with Asia Mobiliti’s selection for the project, the authority is now investigating the matter after receiving “new complaints” and “new leads”. – June 6, 2024