TLDR: A recent OpenGov Asia Breakfast Insight in Malaysia highlighted the critical role of trusted data foundations, ethical AI, and robust governance in transforming the public sector. Experts emphasized overcoming data fragmentation, ensuring data quality, and fostering collaboration to enhance citizen services and build public trust, with a focus on Malaysia’s national AI initiatives.
OpenGov Asia recently hosted an exclusive Breakfast Insight event on July 15, 2025, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Putrajaya Lakeside, bringing together senior public sector leaders, experts, and innovators. The session, titled ‘Bytes of Trust: Empowering Public Sector Excellence with AI and Data,’ focused on unlocking Malaysia’s public sector innovation through responsible AI, advanced data integration, and ethical governance.
Mohit Sagar, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of OpenGov Asia, opened the session by challenging the conventional view of data as ‘the new oil,’ instead likening it to ‘the lifeblood of transformation.’ He asserted, ‘If you take data out of your organisation, it dies – just like you would without blood.’ Sagar warned against the prevalent issue of organisations rushing to adopt AI and automation without first establishing a clear data strategy and cohesive integration frameworks. He cited research indicating that ‘80% of AI projects in 2024 failed’ primarily due to ‘bad data delivering bad models,’ emphasizing that ‘If your processes are wrong, your operations broken, no technology will save you.’ He urged leaders to prioritize governance over government and to listen to their teams, as those closest to the data often identify real challenges and practical solutions.
Donna Wong, Enterprise Account Director for Malaysia & Brunei at Qlik, highlighted Qlik’s long-standing mission to empower organizations to harness the full value of their data. She noted Qlik’s consistent recognition as a leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant across data integration, data quality, and analytics, underscoring their commitment to equipping leaders with actionable insights.
Sunit Kapoor, Business Strategy and Value Engineering Advisor at Qlik, reinforced the idea that data is the fundamental pillar of AI and digital transformation. He echoed the statistic about AI project failures due to poor data, stating, ‘Sometimes we treat AI initiatives as science projects, not business projects,’ which often leads to poor ROI. Kapoor explained that Qlik helps build robust and trusted data foundations, utilizing innovations like the AI Trust Score. He outlined three essential pillars for a sustainable data strategy: unifying data and establishing trust, resolving data quality issues, and prioritizing robust governance. ‘We’re transforming decision-making by turning complex data into clear, confident actions,’ he concluded.
Sam Majid, Head at the National AI Office Malaysia (NAIO), discussed foundational principles for designing trustworthy AI systems. He stressed the importance of adhering to ‘ACTA rules and regulations,’ including the Data Sharing Act and Data Governance Act. Majid revealed that Malaysia’s comprehensive five-year AI Action Plan, covering sectors like agriculture, healthcare, and manpower, would be launched imminently. He encouraged hands-on upskilling through small AI projects and cultivating a purpose-driven workforce. On data silos, he recommended a dual approach to foster cross-agency collaboration while preserving institutional autonomy, noting, ‘Citizens will demand data coming from multi-agencies – they don’t really care about one ministry.’ He also referenced the MOSTI Seven Principles of AI governance, emphasizing transparency and human good, and underscored data sovereignty as crucial.
Budiman Bujang, Deputy Chief Digital Officer at Johor Corporation (JCorp), shared insights on shifting organizational mindsets to view data as a strategic asset rather than merely a compliance obligation. He highlighted the importance of marrying data between divisions to ‘build a culture of how we can churn out business values.’ JCorp embeds digital governance within its Group Risk Committee to oversee technology and AI initiatives, ensuring that ‘AI needs to be revisited as part of the governance layer.’ To mitigate AI bias, JCorp embeds ‘AI ethics and responsible AI in the data ingestion layer before it feeds into our models,’ strengthening data governance at its foundation.
Hafiz Hassan, Public Sector Country Manager at Amazon Web Services, addressed the persistent challenge of data fragmentation in government. He praised Malaysia’s Data Sharing Act as a significant step and explained how cloud-native architectures facilitate a ‘data fabric approach’ for unified data access. Hassan advocated for rapid experimentation, stating, ‘At AWS, we call it ‘start small, scale fast,’ or ‘fail fast and fail cheap’.’ He emphasized that ‘Compliance should never be a blocker for innovation,’ suggesting that a centralized compliance framework, like the CGSO Data Classification Guideline, can guide responsible innovation in the public sector.
The interactive discussion among delegates underscored the unanimous agreement that a trusted data foundation is essential for successful AI projects, with one participant noting, ‘Without trustworthy data, any AI model we build will be fundamentally flawed.’ The primary objective for adopting advanced data analytics and AI was identified as improving the efficiency and responsiveness of public services, followed by enhancing decision-making through predictive insights. Key challenges included fragmented systems, lack of integration, inconsistent data standards, limited governance frameworks, and a shortage of data management skills. Ultimately, participants agreed that the greatest benefit of investing in trusted data and ethical AI is achieving greater citizen trust and satisfaction in digital services.
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In closing, Donna Wong urged participants to reflect on challenges, identify specific areas where AI could add value, and engage with Qlik for tailored solutions. Mohit Sagar reinforced this call to action, advising leaders to take full ownership of their digital transformation journeys and to ‘bring people in who do this on a global level’ to leverage real solutions and knowledge, not just technology. He concluded by urging leaders to ‘lead’ and foster change, emphasizing that ‘Leadership is all about making a change, fostering change.’
