SINGAPORE: A recent video from Nuseir Yassin featured the Network School, a three-month course founded by venture capitalist Balaji Srinivasan, set in Forest City, Johor.
“This guy is building the next San Francisco,” Mr Yassin, more popularly known as Nas Daily, says in his trademark enthusiastic style.
The video claims that Mr Srinivasan “found a massive, empty city on a ghost island and rented thousands of rooms” for tech people from around the globe to get together to innovate. For example, one very young participant says he’s “building Siri, but better.”
It makes much of the fact that Singapore is only about 40 minutes away, making it sound like a selling point and that the tech founders who participate work out together.
@nasdaily He’s building the next San Francisco This is the story of Balaji and of his new @Network School
It also puts down a famous city quite a bit, with the founder saying that his “whole idea is to build a San Francisco that doesn’t suck” and describing it as violent and criminal, adding that he can do better.
And while there are some female participants, it’s very tech-bro coded.
“You are the average of the five people around you. So if people live this life, with these people, on this island, you can build something great together,” Nas says at the end, calling the school “awesome,” while Mr Srinivasan invites people to come to the school.
And while the vlogger appeared to love the school, the reception online has been relatively lukewarm, and commenters have questioned some of the premises the video makes.
“I love San Francisco, and do not agree that it is violent. Crime is down to 70 70-year lows. The new mayor is incredible. I was just there last weekend. I am a 68-year-old woman and felt perfectly safe alone,” a Facebook user wrote.
“I’m not used to seeing a Nas video denigrating another city. I was a bit taken aback. Crime rates in San Francisco are experiencing a double-digit decline, and when it comes to big cities, San Francisco is lower than average in violent crimes,” another added.
“Work together? Bro, when I’m planning my spaghetti code, all I need is a solitary and quiet,” a commenter quipped.
One found it ironic that “US-based tech innovation is being founded on a Chinese development in Malaysia.”
“But innovation comes from struggle, not a pampered environment. Without the competitive spirit and the need to survive, hardly anything worthwhile comes out of it,” a netizen pointed out.
However, by far the number of commenters zeroed in on why Mr Yassin is in Malaysia at all, given that Israel and Malaysia have no diplomatic ties.
Another expressed appreciation for the Network School founder, but said they don’t trust Mr Yassin.
One of the country’s Members of Parliament, Lim Lip Eng, even posted on social media, “Isn’t this Nuseir Yassin an Israeli citizen?”
The vlogger was allowed to enter Malaysia in 2022, as he is now a passport holder of Saint Kitts and Nevis, a country in the Caribbean, as well as Israel. According to a report in Mothership, Mr Yassin spent around S$194,199 on this. /TISG
Read also: Vlogger Nas Daily sparks outrage at Tokyo meetup, accused of genocide complicity
