DE Rantau, a one-stop hub for immigration and accommodation

Malaysia wants to become a premier digital nomad hub, using Greece as a role model for the DE-Rantau programme rolled out by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).

Arifah Sharifuddin, Head of Digital Tourism at MDEC, said that in crafting its digital nomad programme, it looked to other destinations, such as Portugal, Spain, Greece, Chiang Mai and Bali, for lessons.

“We looked at seasoned locations that had specific immigration facility that allows digital nomads to be recognized. Estonia started its programme in 2016, Portugal since 2020 but we felt Greece had the best model for us.

“Greece launched its programme in 2019 and 3,000 visas were approved in 2021,” she told the audience at the K Travel Tech Summit in Seoul. “Currently they have 2,600 active digital nomad visas.”

DE Rantau (Rantau means ‘travel’ in Malay) was launched last October and one year in, out of 2,000 applications, 800 have been approved. “We have singles, couples and families,” she said.

The programme is targeted specifically at IT and digital talent. “It’s not for accountants who do freelance work on their laptops. We are looking for people like software developers, as well as bloggers and content creators with a minimum number of followers and type of content,” she said.

Of skill sets, 30% are in software development, with the rest spread out over AI machine learning, digital marketing, creative content and UI/UX. The qualifying income is $24,000 a year.

The most high profile among Malaysia’s digital nomads is Japanese YouTuber couple iChang and Jimmy. The duo, whose real names are Ai Nishida (iChang) and Yusuke Nishida (Jimmy), are big fans of Malaysian food and document their foodie exploits via their YouTube channel, which has over 342,000 subscribers.

“We also have a health fitness nomad from the US,” said Arifah.

“We see this programme as supporting digital tourism so that businesses in Malaysia can become more competitive and sustainable,” said Arifah about its Digital Nomad initiative

DE Rantau is a one-stop hub for digital nomads, covering immigration as well as accommodation needs. “When we first announced the visa, we received all kinds of applications and the rejection rate was very high,” said Arifah. “But now things have stabilized.”

It is also certifying accommodation to ensure appropriate facilities such as “living quarters, proper work desk and minimum of 100MG connectivity”. So far, it has 1,800 certified accommodation ranging from two-star properties to hosted homes and five star hotels. “We have a lot of applications, everyone sees value in hosting,” she said.

Currently, 73% of digital nomads stay in the main cities of Kuala Lumpur and Penang. It is looking at dispersal with many states wanting to be part of the programme, said Arifah, citing places such as Langkawi and the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.

DE Rantau is also part of Malaysia’s bigger plan to jumpstart its digital economy in nine sectors, with a key one being tourism. “We see this programme as supporting digital tourism so that businesses in Malaysia can become more competitive and sustainable,” said Arifah.

For example, it is working with telco providers in tourism hot spots to boost connectivity, as well as in remote areas. “Regulations and policies tend to play catch-up with digital. Now we have ride-hailing services, short term accommodation services – and policies are trying to keep up. As we progress in the pace of digital tourism, more changes will be required at the regulatory and policy level.”

Asked why would a digital nomad favour Malaysia over other destinations that are also vying for the same talent, Arifah said, “First we have fantastic food. Then we have a high quality of life that is affordable. Everybody speaks English, so there’s no language barrier. And we are warm people.”

She added, “We just completed our first Malaysia digital nomad conference and one of the speakers said Malaysia’s superpower was diversity and inclusivity and another said, Malaysians are very good at managing uncertainty, which makes us flexible, agile and highly adaptable.”