Malaysian Authorities Seal Network School Premises Amid Network School Forest City Controversy
Malaysian authorities sealed Network School premises in Forest City, Johor on July 22, 2026, following licensing breaches and Israeli nationals allegations.
Malaysian Authorities Seal Network School Premises Amid Network School Forest City Controversy
SEO Title: Network School Forest City Closure | MBIP Seals Johor Premises
Deck: Malaysian enforcement officers closed and seized a Network School premises in Forest City, Johor on July 22, 2026, as the Iskandar Puteri City Council acted on licensing breaches tied to the Network School Forest City controversy involving 430 identified individuals and an Israeli nationals allegation.
The Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP) moved decisively on July 22, 2026, sealing a Network School premises located within Forest City, Johor, at 10.45am, as the Network School Forest City controversy intensified into a full enforcement action. Organised as a swift inter-agency response and carried out by a team of MBIP enforcement officers, the closure follows MBIP’s declaration the previous day that it would revoke Network School’s business licence after finding the company had breached several licensing requirements. The enforcement team displayed a notice on the sealed premises invoking By-law 49(2) of MBIP’s Trade, Business and Industrial Licensing By-laws 2018, with an official statement from the council expected shortly after the operation concluded. Johor Menteri Besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi was scheduled to hold a press conference on the matter at 2.30pm the same day. The incident has drawn national and international attention to the private tech commune founded by former Coinbase chief technology officer and investor Balaji Srinivasan, which launched operations in 2024. Network School’s Forest City outpost now stands shuttered, its fate entangled in questions of licensing compliance, immigration oversight, and diplomatic sensitivity.
Days Before The Raid, Forest City Was Already Under Scrutiny
With enforcement action now confirmed, it is worth reconstructing how quickly scrutiny built around the Network School programme in the weeks prior. The controversy did not originate with regulators — it erupted on social media, where users began questioning the composition of participants at the Forest City community, alleging that Israeli nationals had joined the programme using passports issued by other countries.
This is not a simple case of a business licence technicality.
It is a licensing dispute, an immigration investigation, a diplomatic flashpoint, and a social media-driven public accountability moment, unfolding simultaneously at the same sealed address.
Malaysian law and practice are clear on the underlying diplomatic dimension: Israeli passport holders cannot enter Malaysia without prior approval, as the two countries do not maintain diplomatic relations. The allegation that some Israeli nationals may have circumvented this restriction by presenting alternative travel documents escalated what might otherwise have been a routine licensing review into a matter of national policy. Immigration authorities moved in parallel with the municipal enforcement process, conducting two separate rounds of investigations into foreigners linked to Network School, adding a layer of federal scrutiny on top of the local licensing action.
From Social Media Allegations To Sealed Premises, A Rapid Regulatory Response Unfolded
MBIP’s enforcement operation on July 22 represented the culmination of a timeline that had accelerated sharply in the preceding 48 hours. On July 21, 2026, MBIP publicly announced its intention to revoke Network School’s business licence, citing multiple breaches of licensing requirements. Less than 24 hours later, enforcement officers were on the ground.
The sealed premises in Forest City — part of a mixed-use development in Iskandar Puteri — now bear a formal closure notice. According to reporting by Harian Metro, the enforcement team completed the sealing at 10.45am. MBIP’s Trade, Business and Industrial Licensing By-laws 2018 provided the legal instrument, with By-law 49(2) cited as the specific provision underpinning the closure order.
Network School, as a concept, positions itself as a private residential tech community — a programme in which participants live, work, and collaborate in a shared environment focused on technology and entrepreneurship. According to public materials, it was founded by Balaji Srinivasan, a figure widely recognised in global technology investment circles for his role as Coinbase’s chief technology officer. The Forest City location represented one of the programme’s physical nodes, drawing an internationally diverse cohort of participants.
The programme’s participant base is precisely what drew enforcement attention. MBIP’s licensing review found that the company’s operations had deviated from what its registered licence permitted, though the council had not yet published a detailed breakdown of those specific breaches at the time of writing.
Behind The 430 Identified Individuals Is An Experiment In ‘Passport Substitution’
The real story here is not the sealed premises, but the immigration mechanism that authorities now allege may have been used to bring restricted nationals into the country.
Immigration Director-General Zakaria Shaaban, speaking publicly on July 21, 2026, confirmed that 430 people had been identified as having links to Network School’s Forest City community. Of those, authorities established that 210 were still in Malaysia, 201 had already left the country, and 19 remained unaccounted for at the time of his statement.
Zakaria indicated that there was a possibility the 19 unaccounted individuals had departed Malaysia through irregular or illegal channels — a statement that significantly raised the gravity of the case beyond ordinary licensing enforcement.
The immigration department’s methodology involved two separate rounds of investigations covering 379 foreign nationals linked to Network School. Following those investigations, Zakaria stated that his department found no evidence of wrongdoing among those 379 individuals — a finding that narrows the active concern to the unaccounted 19 and to those whose entry documentation is still under review.
The core allegation — that Israeli nationals entered Malaysia using passports issued by third countries — points to a practice that, if confirmed, would represent a deliberate circumvention of Malaysia’s longstanding position on Israeli entry. That position is not merely administrative: it reflects Malaysia’s official non-recognition of the State of Israel and its consistent public alignment with Palestinian rights at international forums. Any evidence of systematic use of alternative passports to bypass this restriction would carry political consequences well beyond the immediate enforcement action.
Forest City’s International Profile Gives The Case A Natural Visibility Base
The choice of Forest City as the location for Network School’s Malaysian operation is itself a strategic decision worth noting.
Forest City is a large-scale integrated development in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, designed from inception to attract an internationally mobile population. Its infrastructure — residential towers, commercial space, and digital connectivity — made it a plausible address for a programme pitching itself to global technology talent. The development’s built-in international audience meant Network School did not need to generate its own catchment; it could draw on a community already oriented toward cross-border mobility and tech-adjacent professions.
Sourcing materials project that the full scope of the Network School community across its various global nodes involves several hundred active participants at any given time, with the Forest City cohort representing one of its more prominent concentrations. The official external figure provided by immigration authorities stands at 430 individuals identified in connection with the Malaysian operation — a number that, by the Director-General’s own account, required two rounds of investigation to fully map.
Public information confirms the enforcement action is jointly driven by MBIP at the municipal level and the Immigration Department at the federal level, with the Johor state government — represented by Menteri Besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi’s scheduled press conference — providing political oversight. Whether the Ministry of Home Affairs will issue further directives regarding the programme’s status in Malaysia was still pending at time of publication.
Frequently Asked Questions About Network School Forest City
What is Network School and where is it located in Malaysia? Network School is a private residential tech community founded by Balaji Srinivasan, former chief technology officer of Coinbase. Its Malaysian premises are located in Forest City, Iskandar Puteri, Johor. The programme launched in 2024 and describes itself as a collaborative living and working environment for technology professionals and entrepreneurs.
Why was Network School’s Forest City premises closed? The Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP) sealed the Network School Forest City premises on July 22, 2026, at 10.45am, citing breaches of several licensing requirements under MBIP’s Trade, Business and Industrial Licensing By-laws 2018. MBIP announced its intention to revoke Network School’s business licence on July 21, 2026, one day before enforcement officers carried out the physical closure.
Were Israeli nationals found at Network School in Forest City, Johor? Social media users alleged that Israeli nationals participated in the Network School Forest City programme using passports issued by countries other than Israel. Malaysian immigration authorities launched investigations in response to these allegations. As of July 21, 2026, Immigration Director-General Zakaria Shaaban stated that two rounds of investigations into 379 foreigners linked to Network School found no evidence of wrongdoing, though 19 individuals out of the 430 identified remained unaccounted for.
How many people were investigated in connection with the Network School case? Immigration authorities identified 430 individuals with links to Network School’s Forest City operation. Of those, 210 were still in Malaysia, 201 had left the country, and 19 were unaccounted for as of July 21, 2026. The Immigration Department conducted two separate rounds of investigations covering 379 of those foreign nationals.
Can Israeli passport holders enter Malaysia? Israeli passport holders generally cannot enter Malaysia without prior government approval. Malaysia does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. The allegation that Israeli nationals may have entered Malaysia using alternative passports — to join the Network School Forest City programme — is the central immigration concern underpinning the enforcement action.
What legal provision was used to close the Network School premises? MBIP enforcement officers sealed the Network School premises in Forest City under By-law 49(2) of the Iskandar Puteri City Council’s Trade, Business and Industrial Licensing By-laws 2018. A formal closure notice was displayed on the premises at the time of the sealing.
Who founded Network School, and when did it launch? Network School was founded by Balaji Srinivasan, a prominent technology investor and the former chief technology officer of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The programme launched in 2024 as a private residential tech community operating across multiple international locations, with one node established at Forest City in Johor, Malaysia.
A Case That Extends Beyond One Sealed Address
The closure and seizure of the Network School premises in Forest City on July 22, 2026, marks a concrete enforcement outcome in what has become one of Malaysia’s most closely watched immigration and licensing cases of the year. With 430 individuals identified, 19 still unaccounted for, and federal immigration authorities maintaining that their two-round investigation found no wrongdoing among the 379 examined, the case sits in an active and unresolved state. The municipal licensing breach is established. The immigration picture remains officially inconclusive at this stage. What is clear is that Network School’s Forest City operation, as it existed, no longer has the legal standing to function.
For more information on the Network School Forest City closure and related enforcement actions, readers may refer to the following official sources:
- Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP): www.mbip.gov.my
Jalan Ledang, Nusajaya, 79150 Iskandar Puteri, Johor
- Immigration Department of Malaysia: www.imi.gov.my
Headquarters: No. 15, Persiaran Perdana, Precinct 2, 62550 Putrajaya General line: +603-8000 8000
- Johor State Government Official Portal: www.johor.gov.my
- Bernama (primary news source for this report): www.bernama.com
Members of the public with information regarding the 19 unaccounted individuals linked to the Network School Forest City case may contact the Immigration Department of Malaysia directly via the hotline above or through the nearest Immigration office.
