Computimes, Monday, October 29th, 2001

By Leng Kean Meng

Although the Internet industry continues to prosper and grow at an astonishing rate internationally, the freedom of choice provided for Malaysian companies to register a domain name that carries the ".my" tag at the end of their corporate domain name remains unexploited.

As statistically proven by iRepublics.com which offers free Web hosting services, out of 5,000 Malaysian companies hosted by the portal, those that carry .my at the end of their domain name remains proportionally small.

Companies which do not own a .my domain address are under the impression that a ".com.my" domain address lacks sophistication because it does not portray an international image compared to a domain name ending with .com.

This is a gross misconception which must be swiftly addresses as a .my domain name does not in any way imply that the company lacks global presence, just that it is proudly registered in Malaysia among other countries around the globe.

Ironically, while many Malaysian companies shy themselves away from the association of a .com.my domain address, foreign companies registered in Malaysia aim to have .my at the end of their domain address, claiming that it portrays global presence.

This clearly shows that having a .my domain address is indeed advantageous.

Internet presence. There are over 100,000 Malaysian companies registered in Malaysia and yet, less than 30 per cent have their own domain name.

When asked, most decision makers of those companies which do not have a domain name claim that owning a domain name is technically too complex and difficult to manage. Local companies also feel that having an Internet presence would require a huge injection of funds.

With the advent of the Internet, the traditional tools of business have changes tremendously in the last decade. As time passes, no company, be it small or big, can afford to be left behind.

While many are hesitant to ride the wave of change that is sweeping through the business world, they must quickly realize that this is not a temporary hype, that the Internet is a permanent wave of revolutionising business operations.

Perhaps with efforts to offer free Web hosting services and special programmes for domain name registration. Malaysian businesses will finally become competitive entities in the international arena today.

The writer is the chief executive officer of iRepublics.com