Malaysian authorities reportedly move to shut down Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School

Balaji Srinivasan’s grand physical-digital experiment faces a major setback as Malaysian authorities reportedly move to shut down his pop-up Network School.

The Malaysian government ordered the shutdown of the startup community due to licensing issues, according to The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch. Based in an abandoned hotel, the school billed itself as a "frontier community for techno-optimists." It was designed as the first step in Srinivasan’s seven-stage plan to start a new country. WSJ described the program as "part tech incubator, part self-improvement retreat," but attendees complained about moldy rooms and a lack of nightlife and women.

Why it matters: Building a sovereign state sounds great online, but physical communities still have to answer to local governments. The shutdown highlights the gap between grand techno-optimist theories and the unglamorous realities of real-world legal permits and building maintenance.

Know this: Srinivasan—who renounced his American citizenship in 2023—published a post on X calling the reporting a "hit piece" and declared himself "a proud Singaporean." The Malaysian site is closing, but he announced a new agreement for a campus in Kazakhstan.

Building a new country is tough, but getting local business licenses might be tougher.