KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- 29-year-old Farhad Fahd Bin Othman, a white collar worker based in Kuala Lumpur, has long been dreaming about using a mobile phone to handle all daily transactions, like the people of his age do in China. So the minute he heard about a new mobile application called Touch n'go e-wallet, he didn't hesitate to download it to his phone.
"I found it very useful because everything is in one wallet, not only I could use it in QR transit, I can also use it for other payment such as food. When I wanna buy anything, I can even pay my bill, I use it daily actually," said Farhad, then used the application to enter a subway station in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
The mobile app, Touch n'go e-wallet, is powered by Alipay, a mobile payment platform that has helped to build a ecosystem in China. Only operational from earlier this year, the e-wallet embodies big ambitions between Touch 'n Go (TnG), a payment service provider under CIMB banking group and Ant Financial, an affiliate of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba.
The mobile app has already incorporated a cluster of functions related to people's everyday life, including paying utility bills, buying flight and cinema tickets.
Before Touch n'go e-wallet, local Malaysian people have already been used to paying road tolls with the TnG card, which coupled with a device called SmartTag allows drivers to pass toll gates without having to stop.
But Syahrunizam Samsudin, CEO of TNG Digital, reckons that to expand the usage of TnG to other areas, his company must collaborate with Chinese tech firms.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who is in China for an official visit, toured Alibaba's headquarter in Hangzhou on Saturday.
In an interview with Xinhua ahead of his visit, Mahathir praised China's achievement in advancing technology and that China's development has benefited Malaysia. He said he is looking forward to more Chinese investment that could bring in technology and capital.
WeChat Pay, another Chinese mobile payment platform, is available for local users to make payment in Malaysian ringgit.
Xiong Wuzhen, Director of Engineering of Ant Financial's International Business unit, said though transactions are widely accepted in Malaysia, it still has a low penetration rate in the perspective of cashless payment. Though the TNG e-wallet is based on the Ant Financial's Alipay platform, Xiong said they still need to adapt to local people's needs.
He believes that empowered by Chinese technologies like Ant Financial, Malaysia will one day develop into a similar cashless payment community like that in China.
"So I think it will take some time, but I am very hopeful it will happen very quickly as well," he said.
China's mobile payment platforms are also helping many local businesses in Malaysia by providing an easy way of transaction for the rapidly increasing Chinese tourists. Both Alipay and WeChat Pay are now widely available in many tourist attraction and convenient stores.
Terry Chong operates a shop in downtown Kuala Lumpur selling Durian fruits as well as Durian based food and products, which are becoming popular among Chinese tourists.
Chong would always asked the Chinese tourists if they want to add him to their WeChat contacts, when they came to taste durians. Building contacts with customers would help him expand business and attract more Chinese customers.
For him, WeChat is not only a communication app, but a way of doing businesses.
Salahuddin Ayub, Malaysian Minister of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, who is accompanying Mahathir to visit China, told local media earlier that he looks forward to getting China's approval to allow fresh Malaysian durians, among other agricultural products, to be exported to China
Chong is already thinking about expanding business to China. "China is such a big market," he said.
