Photo: Facebook/Lee Ting Han, Iskandar Malaysia Studios

MALAYSIA: A speech delivered by Johor Investment, Trade, Consumer Affairs and Human Resources Committee Chairman Lee Ting Han on behalf of Menteri Besar Dato’ Onn Hafiz Ghazi and the Johor Government at KL20 @ Johor 2026 — The Orange Economy Chapter event at Iskandar Malaysia Studios has laid out an ambitious vision for the state’s creative economy.

He noted that the convergence of creativity, technology, and the JS-SEZ positions Johor to become a place where ideas become intellectual property, productions reach global markets, and the creative and digital economies reinforce each other.

Lee’s address, delivered to an audience of creative industry leaders, investors, and policymakers at what he described as “a fitting venue for a conversation about creativity, technology and the future,” framed the creative economy not as a cultural add-on to Johor’s industrial development but as an integral part of the digital economy itself.

The JS-SEZ as a creative economy platform

Lee situated Johor’s creative economy ambitions squarely within the JS-SEZ framework. Spanning approximately 357,000 hectares across southern Johor, the zone has recorded RM110 billion in approved investments in 2025, which is the highest among Malaysian states, with 85.5% within the JS-SEZ footprint.

The 11 promoted sectors include the digital economy, which Lee connected directly to creative industries.

“The next question is: what do we create with that capability?” he asked, after noting that Malaysia’s information and communications sub-sector alone recorded RM152.9 billion in approved investments in 2025, driven by AI, big data, data centres, and cloud computing.

The answer he offered was the creative economy, which he described as “increasingly part of the digital economy itself.”

The global creative economy opportunity

Lee cited substantial figures to frame the opportunity. The cultural and creative industries globally rep...