I first met Jack Ma, the Founder and Chairman of Alibaba Group seven years ago at Singapore during the APEC Summit's Asia Inc Forum in Suntec City.

The ballroom was filled with approximately 200 Presidents, Prime Ministers and the world's leading CEOs and entrepreneurs.

I was jetting back and forth between London and Singapore, migrating from my role as a Global Business Director based at San Francisco into my new career as an entrepreneur.

Jack, on the other hand, was already in deep, building his Alibaba empire. He was already a star in China, and inching daily towards global icon status.

Today Jack is China's number one symbol of technology wealth and entrepreneurship. His e-commerce firm Alibaba Group, whose $21.8 billion IPO in New York in 2014 set a record as the world's biggest public stock offering.

51-year-old Jack Ma is now the world’s eighth richest tech billionaire.

Recently, the Indonesian government offered Jack Ma a role as an adviser to the Indonesian government with an ecommerce committee consisting of 10 ministers. Protectionists have warned that there is a potential conflict of interest because Alibaba owns a controlling stake in Lazada, which also operates in Indonesia.

On the other hand, others believe he has the power and potential to elevate and accelerate Indonesia's digital evolution.

MNC World News anchor Roberlin Purba interviewed me on The Marketplace program, beamed live across Indonesia and Europe.

Is Jack Ma good for Indonesia, or are we opening our vulnerable doors to opportunistic economic engineering?

This interview officially clarifies my position on Jack's appointment.



