SALUTATION
1. Yang Berbahagia Tuan Fabian Bigar
Secretary General, Ministry of Digital
2. Mr Soo Hoo Khoon Yean
Managing Partner, PwC Malaysia
3. Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Fad’l Mohamed
Chief Executive Officer, Bursa Malaysia
4. Yang Berbahagia Datin Ts Habsah Nordin
President, Data Management Association (DAMA) Malaysia
5. Puan Nurul A’in Abdul Latif
Executive Chair, PwC Malaysia
6. Mr Sundara Raj
Chief Digital Officer, PwC Malaysia
Representative from Ministries & Agencies,
Distinguished Guests, Colleagues, and Visionaries,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Good Morning, Salam Sejahtera dan Salam Malaysia MADANI.
1. These days, communication with machines is something you do all the time in your daily lives. You converse with machines, you converse with apps, and at the end of the day, you actually live life today based on what it is these machines tell you.
2. Five years ago, we spoke about information and misinformation, and there were calls on the government in particular, to fact-check in order to tackle problems such as scams and misinformation.
3. Today, at the rate and speed at which we converse with machines, it has brought us to a point where we assume that everything that we get from the machine is factually correct. That is something we need to think about moving ahead. The question is, are we ready?
Ladies and gentlemen,
4. We are gathered at a pivotal moment in our global digital journey – what the World Economic Forum defines as the Intelligent Age. This new era is not simply about accelerated innovation.
5. It is a profound societal transformation, driven by the convergence of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced connectivity, and biotechnology. In WEF’s words, it is a "Societal Revolution" with the power to redefine how we live, work, govern, and relate to one another.
6. In this age, intelligent systems do not merely automate processes – they anticipate outcomes, shape possibilities, and influence decisions at scale. The responsibility before us is not just to innovate, but to govern with foresight and wisdom.
7. As the WEF rightly notes, our greatest challenge is not whether machines can learn to think - but whether we can act wisely in how we use them. Intelligence is no longer scarce; what is scarce is judgment. And in this reality, trust becomes the operating system of progress. Without trust, complex systems collapse under their own weight. Innovation stalls. Data becomes siloed. Public confidence wanes.
8. The real question is not how advanced our technologies can become, but how responsibly we design the norms, institutions, and infrastructures that enable these technologies to serve society. Trust is not simply a virtue – it is a strategic capability. It is the foundation upon which resilient societies are built.
9. Whether in boardrooms where investment decisions are made, ministries deploying public services, or communities directly impacted by Artificial Intelligence (AI) – we must assess our systems not only by their speed or scale, but by their trustworthiness. Can the system explain its decisions? Is it equitable in its outcomes? Can it be held accountable when things go wrong?
10. Malaysia steps into this moment not claiming to have all the answers, but with a firm commitment to listen, to learn, and to lead collaboratively. We recognise that no single government or institution can navigate the complexity of the Intelligent Age alone. That is why we are committed to building a digital future not only powered by intelligence, but anchored in humility, integrity, and inclusion – a future forged through openness and shared purpose.
FROM HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP TO EMBEDDED TRUST
Ladies and Gentlemen,
11. In the early stages of AI development, the default safeguard was to "keep a human in the loop" – a cautious response to preserve oversight. This served as a moral fail-safe method, ensuring human judgment could override machine decisions. But that paradigm no longer suffices. AI now operates in dynamic, autonomous environments – optimising supply chains in milliseconds, managing energy grids, and trading across global markets without human pause.
12. Malaysia understands that the challenge before us is not only technical – it is also ethical, institutional, and architectural. We must go beyond reactive oversight and begin building systems that are intentionally aligned with human values, even in the absence of direct intervention.
13. This requires embedding accountability into the very architecture of decision-making: protocols, logic layers, and governance workflows. This means shifting our focus from individual algorithms to the ecosystems – of institutions, incentives, data flows, and humanmachine interfaces – that shape digital behaviour over time.
14. In the Intelligent Age, trust cannot be assumed. It must be engineered deliberately, governed actively, and verified continuously.
DATA: THE FOUNDATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF TRUST
15. At the core of any trusted digital system is one defining element: Data. Too often likened to oil, data is in fact far more potent. It is the DNA of digital systems – dynamic, generative, and deeply embedded in the logic that shapes intelligent technologies. It determines how decisions are made, how services are delivered, and how governance is executed.
16. In the Intelligent Age, trust begins not at the point of decision, but upstream, at the source of data creation, curation, and sharing. Inaccurate, biased, or poorly governed data undermines everything built upon it. Flawed disease prediction tools, inequitable loan algorithms, and unjust policing systems often trace their failures to data foundations that were never designed for integrity.
17. This is why data governance is no longer a technical concern. It is a strategic imperative.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
18. Malaysia is acting on this understanding. We have modernised the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) to expand enforcement, mandate breach notifications, and extend obligations to data 7 processors. We have also enacted the Data Sharing Act to promote structured, secure, and responsible data exchange across public institutions. And we hope to extend this to the public sphere in the future.
19. These are not incremental upgrades. They are foundational steps toward building a trust architecture – one that recognises data as a public good, embeds governance as a shared responsibility, and positions Malaysia to lead in an AI-powered, data-driven future.
THE DATA ECONOMY: TRUST AS ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE
20. We are entering the era of the data economy – a global transformation where economic value increasingly stems not from physical assets, but from the capacity to capture, process, and leverage digital information.
21. China, for example, has formally recognised data as a new factor of production, placing it alongside traditional inputs like land, labour, capital, and technology. This strategic move aims to harness data's potential to drive economic growth and innovation. To support this goal, China established the National Data Bureau in October 2023 to coordinate data infrastructure development and promote the integration and utilisation of data resources.
22. From predictive health systems to personalised education, from automated logistics to intelligent agriculture, prosperity now hinges on how effectively nations convert raw data into trusted, actionable 8 intelligence.
23. Trust is what gives data its mobility – and mobility gives data its value. Around the world, nations are embedding trust into the architecture of their digital economies: a. The EU has established data portability rights under the GDPR and is advancing algorithmic transparency through the AI Act. b. China is developing a sovereign data governance model through its Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and national data exchanges, blending centralized control with structured innovation.
24. Malaysia is in the early stages of developing its own path – carefully reviewing global models while exploring a framework that is informed by our national values, socio-economic context, and regional priorities.
25. Our aim is to create a distinctly Malaysian trust framework: grounded in public legitimacy, adaptable in regulation, and interoperable across borders. Because in the Intelligent Age, trust is not a constraint on innovation. It is the architecture that makes innovation meaningful.
WHAT THE TRUSTED ARCHITECTURE OF THE FUTURE LOOKS LIKE
26. A trusted digital society cannot be built from code alone. It requires an architecture of integrity.
27. Malaysia’s vision is shaped by our Artificial Intelligence Governance and Ethics (AIGE) Framework – which defines not only the behaviour of AI, but the values and standards that should govern the entire ecosystem: human-centricity, transparency, inclusivity, fairness, accountability, security, and reliability.
WHAT IS NEEDED: A NEW REGULATORY IMAGINATION
Ladies and Gentlemen,
28. To realise this vision, Malaysia must do more than modernise its data policies – we must boldly reimagine the very foundations of governance in the digital era.
29. In this new landscape, traditional institutions and reactive legislation are simply not sufficient. Malaysia is therefore exploring the need for a next-generation governance structure – a future-ready regulatory environment empowered to oversee the ethical deployment of AI, resolve emerging data rights, enforce evolving standards, and serve as a trusted custodian of public interest.
30. We want to send a clear message: that Malaysia is serious about governing for the age of intelligence.
31. This vision must be supported by a regulatory ecosystem that is adaptive rather than reactive – capable of keeping pace with exponential technological change. It requires tools such as regulatory sandboxes, algorithmic audits, model registries, and risk-calibrated compliance pathways that reflect the diversity and complexity of AI applications. One-size-fits-all rules cannot govern a world of systems that think, learn, and evolve.
32. Just as critically, governance in the Intelligent Age must be inclusive and participatory. Citizens, consumers, and communities must have not only safeguards – but also agency and voice.
33. This requires moving beyond traditional, top-down policymaking to actively engaging the public in shaping the rules, values, and priorities of our digital economy. Trust must be co-created through transparent dialogue, collaborative design, and shared responsibility.
34. Malaysia is advancing this vision through the efforts of the National AI Office (NAIO). Central to this effort is the establishment of six dedicated working groups – AI Sovereignty, AI Regulation & Policy, AI Security, AI Governance & Ethics, AI Safety, and AI Talent – comprising over 170 experts from across government, industry, academia, and civil society.
35. This collaborative platform is a national exercise in participatory governance. It brings together diverse expertise across critical domains – including law, ethics, infrastructure, education, and public 11 policy – to ensure that Malaysia’s AI strategies are both actionable and aligned with public interest; rooted in real-world perspectives; and anticipates future challenges.
36. This model ensures that Malaysia’s regulatory ecosystem is not only expert-informed, but publicly grounded – balancing innovation with inclusivity, and policy with lived experience .
FROM MALAYSIA TO THE REGION – AND THE WORLD
Ladies and Gentlemen,
37. Our vision does not stop at national borders. Malaysia calls for stronger ASEAN collaboration to develop common principles and interoperable frameworks for trusted AI and ethical data governance. In a region as dynamic and diverse as ours, alignment is not just strategic; it is essential.
38. We believe Malaysia can serve as a testbed for innovation, a regional convener, and a trusted partner in co-developing the governance models that will shape the digital future of Southeast Asia.
39. Because trust – like the technologies we seek to govern – must be borderless, inclusive, and collectively stewarded.
TRUST AS THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE INTELLIGENT AGE 12
40. In this new era, we must not only evolve our technologies – we must elevate our ethics, our institutions, and our leadership. Data is the raw material. AI is the engine. But trust is the infrastructure that makes the entire system work.
41. In this spirit of partnership, I am honoured to mark a milestone today: the official launch of the Data Management Association (DAMA) Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chapter, in collaboration with PwC.
42. This is more than a professional network. It is a strategic signal – an affirmation that trusted data governance is central to national resilience, innovation, and AI readiness. It reflects Malaysia’s conviction that governance must be co-created, with the public sector, industry, academia, and civil society working in alignment.
43. So I close with this invitation:
a. Let us not see trust as a limit on innovation, but as the enabler of innovation that matters.
b. Let us design systems that are not only intelligent, but accountable, inclusive, and worthy of public confidence.
44. Malaysia will continue to ask the right questions, build the right foundations, and collaborate with those who share this commitment. We will not settle for being digitally capable alone. We aim to be digitally trusted. And we welcome you to join us on this journey..
Thank you.
