07 NOV 2025
A Tale of One Trip, Two Lenses: My View on the Johor-Singapore SEZ
My business mission to Johor to explore the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) started with a small disaster that revealed a big truth.
I was scheduled to take the SGTech delegation bus from CT Hub, but a major accident on the PIE turned my 15 minute Grab ride into an hour long crawl. I missed the bus. Thinking fast, I rerouted my Grab to Woodlands MRT.
I joined the queue for public bus 950 and was stunned.
At 8 AM on a Wednesday, the bus was packed to the brim with Singaporeans heading into JB. The checkpoint was equally as crowded. This was the everyday, organic flow of people.
Then, the trip’s first irony: as I cleared the Johor checkpoint, I saw the SGTech bus I had missed. I caught up, hopped on, and joined the group just in time for our first stop at JCorp.
My chaotic morning was the perfect, unplanned introduction to the Johor-Singapore SEZ. It proved the thesis before the presentations even began: the human and economic connection between our two countries is powerful, organic, and straining at the seams.
The JS-SEZ is the plan to build a bigger, better designed door.
The Big Picture: Why the Johor-Singapore SEZ Matters More Than Lifestyle
It is easy to see this project as just an economic or lifestyle play. But that misses the main point.
The true driver for the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone is strategic. In an increasingly strange and fracturing geopolitical world, defined by US-China caution and trade tariffs, this is Singapore turning to where we have multiple ties and a shared future.
This mission, with its packed 2-day itinerary, was a deep dive into the execution of this strategy. The lifestyle and business benefits are the outcomes, but the goal is resilience.
I looked at this execution through two lenses.
1. The Incumbent's Lens: Why the JS-SEZ Supercharges My Business
As an entrepreneur, my perspective on this mission was different from many. 2Stallions, is already a Malaysia digital marketing agency as 2Stallions Sdn Bhd. We are an MDEC MD Status company in Malaysia. We already hire talented Malaysians.
So for me, the mission was about amplification. How does the new JS-SEZ supercharge what I am already doing?
A. Does the math get even better?
Yes. The “Special Tax Incentive Package” is the real prize, especially for Malaysia Digital Status incentives. The 5% corporate tax rate for new investments and, most critically, the 15% special tax rate for knowledge workers are game changers.
My first question to the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) during our briefing was how my existing MDEC MD Status company can qualify for these new incentives. This is a powerful tool to retain and attract more high-value talent.
B. Is the ecosystem scaling?
A good tax rate is useless without a talent pipeline. This is where the EduCity Iskandar talent pool becomes critical.
We had a briefing with Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIB) and saw their work at EduCity. This is not a concept; it is a 305-acre, established reality. It is Asia’s first multi-campus education city, hosting international powerhouses like Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, the University of Southampton, and the University of Reading. For my business, this means a sustainable, growing pool of skilled graduates.
C. Is it getting easier?
Bureaucracy is the number one killer of cross-border operations. The new Invest Malaysia Facilitation Centre (IMFC-J) is designed as a “one-stop investment facilitation centre” for all businesses, new and existing. For an incumbent like me, this is gold.
This is a clear signal to anyone looking to set up business in Johor that the old barriers are coming down.
2. The Personal Lens: The "Behavioral Sink" and the Singaporean Moving to Johor
This is more than an industrial park; it is a project of human integration. And for me, this is where it gets deeply personal.
The “Behavioral Sink”: A Haunting Metaphor
I was recently introduced to a concept from a 1960s experiment, “Universe 25,” via a powerful LinkedIn post by Ives Tay.
In the experiment, mice were given a paradise: unlimited food, water, and zero predators. The only scarce resource was space. As the population boomed, social order completely disintegrated. Calhoun coined this collapse the “behavioral sink.”
Tay’s post, like other critics, applies this haunting metaphor to Singapore, linking it to the concept of the “behavioral sink” in Singapore. We are not running out of food or jobs. We are running out of “meaning, space, and social oxygen.”
The Antidote: Space, Greenery, and a Growing Trend
This is the lens I use when I look at my life in a dense urban centre. It explains the why behind the pull I feel toward Johor. This pull is the desire for the antidote to the behavioral sink.
It is the qualitative pull of wanting more space, more greenery, and a place to plant my own fruit trees. It is the simple, human dream of keeping a few cats and having a fish pond.
This is the personal aspiration that statistics cannot capture. And this is not just my personal theory. We are seeing a real trend, with well-known Singaporeans like OG Singapore Boy Hossan Leong and Mr. Loo of the 1M65 movement making the move with a house in Austin Heights JB.
From Dream to Viable Reality
The JS-SEZ, for the first time, makes this dream logistically viable for more people.
The Singapore to Johor RTS (Rapid Transit System) completion by end 2026 is the true game changer. It turns a challenging commute into a 5 minute train ride, creating a viable option for living in Johor while working in Singapore. The established ecosystem, from the Gleneagles hospital we saw to the world-class universities at EduCity, makes it liveable.
This viability also made me look at Forest City differently. It is infamous as a “ghost city.” We visited it as part of our tour. I went in with skepticism. What I saw was a place that was very well maintained, with lush greenery. We were told that occupancy is at 25% and that things are picking up.
This is a significant claim.
The recent news of Balaji Srinivasan opening his Network School there is a tangible sign of new energy. It stands as an impressive freehold opportunity, and my visit suggested the narrative might be starting to change.
The View from Here: The Future of the Johor-Singapore SEZ
That packed 8 AM bus to Johor was not an anomaly; it was a signal.
My two day mission confirmed that the JS-SEZ is the official strategy to finally harness that signal.
On a geopolitical level, it is our most tangible and critical play for regional resilience in a fracturing world.
On a business level, and I speak as an incumbent MD Status company owner, it is a direct amplifier. It’s a clear path to supercharge growth through smarter tax incentives and a world class talent pipeline.
And on a personal level, it is the first truly viable answer to the “behavioral sink” that many of us feel. It is a practical path to a life with more space and balance, one that pioneers like Hossan Leong are already proving.
This is no longer a “what if.” The foundations, from the universities to the data centres and the IMFC-J one stop centre, are already in place.
The question is no longer if this will happen. It’s about how we, as businesses and individuals, will be part of it.
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