Balaji Srinivasan’s Tech Cult Threatens Malaysia

In 2024, former Coinbase executive Balaji Srinivasan opened something called Network School in Forest City, a mostly empty man-made island off the coast of Johor, Malaysia. The idea behind Network School is simple: it’s a camp to indoctrinate wannabe tech entrepreneurs into his Network State cult, which seeks to replace existing nations with micro-countries run by tech companies.

Network School participants attend “classes,” do group workouts and eat “bunny food” designed by Bryan Johnson, the longevity influencer (and Network State cult member) who has spent millions trying not to die.

Balaji, a former Andreessen Horowitz partner who generally goes by his first name, has described his ideology as “tech Zionism.” The New York-born millionaire, now based in Singapore, is a radical figure with a burning hatred for so-called “legacy” governments. In 2024, I exposed his bizarre vision of the future: a fascistic nightmare in which a “gray tribe” of techies don gray uniforms and purge all “blues”—Democrats—from San Francisco.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Balaji finds himself embroiled in controversy in Malaysia, where the government has launched an investigation into Network School. As we’ll see, it is investigating the wrong threat.

Authorities descended on Network School to check whether it had allowed Israeli citizens to attend. Malaysia, which has no diplomatic ties with Israel, bans Israelis from entering the country without special permission. Questions arose after a pseudonymous account on X spread rumors that Israeli citizens were attending Network School in the Malaysian state of Johor using passports from other countries.

From Free Malaysia Today:

The Johor government has called for a federal investigation into the operations of the Network School in Forest City following allegations that Israeli nationals participated in the programme using second-country passports. In a statement today, menteri besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi said the state government took a serious view of the allegations and would not allow Johor to be used as a base for activities that go against the law or the interests of the state and country.

The drama reached all the way to the office of Malaysia's prime minister, reported The Straits Times:

Dubbed Network School, the commune is now at the centre of a controversy after allegations that it has hosted Israeli participants using second-country passports, prompting the Malaysian authorities to launch an investigation. In response to the controversy, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on July 15 that any Israeli citizens who are involved in Network School will immediately be deported.

After Anwar’s deportation threat, Reuters reported that a government inspection of Network School’s attendees revealed nothing amiss, though the investigation continues.

On July 16, Balaji took to X to dramatically demand a meeting with Anwar—threatening a major withdrawal of tech investment unless his demands are met.

“There are two paths forward,” wrote Balaji. “In the first case, if Malaysia still wants continued global tech investment, if it wants to be a top 20 tech hub, if it wants us to revitalize Forest City, then we request an audience with the Prime Minister's office to discuss the terms of a memorandum of understanding between Network School and the Malaysian government...”

Consider what is happening here. A guest on Malaysian soil, under government investigation, is publicly threatening the prime minister with capital flight unless he is granted an audience—and a memorandum of understanding. This is the Network State ideology performed in real time: power and sovereignty as a negotiation between a government and a bloc of capital.

His proposed template, in his own words: a document “similar to the document recently signed between the Solana Foundation and the Kazakhstan government,” where a new “crypto megacity” is being planned. In addition, Balaji claims to speak for “the global tech community”—invoking Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft by name—but none of those trillion-dollar companies has said a word.

Note Balaji’s “revitalize Forest City” line. Forest City is a planned $100 billion Chinese-built development that became one of the world's most famous ghost cities, with vacant towers, shuttered shops, artificial islands with almost nobody on them. Johor has spent years desperate to fill it. That desperation is Balaji’s leverage, and it explains how a cult dedicated to dissolving nation-states got such a warm welcome from one. A failed speculative city became the beachhead for people who want to build speculative (and dystopian) new countries.

It seems odd that the Malaysian government would send investigators to Network School based on a social media rumor that, so far, appears untrue. Even more strange, however, is that Malaysia has allowed the Network State cult to form a base on its territory in the first place. Has anyone in the Malaysian government read Balaji's 2022 book, The Network State: How To Start a New Country? It is full of crazy ideas for undermining existing nations and using corporate power to overthrow the global order. It has sparked a radical movement backed by wealthy figures, some of whom are currently engaged in the act of eroding US democracy.

And the leader of this movement—Balaji—has literally called his plan “tech Zionism.” The goal of the Network School is to teach people to go around the world trying to start their own countries. This is 21st century colonialism on steroids, backed by billionaires. And Malaysia is the training ground.

Whether or not any Israelis attended Network School, they are the least of Malaysia’s worries. The far bigger concern is that Malaysia has become host to a cult that aims to topple nations—a cult that is currently demanding that Prime Minister Anwar bow down at its feet.