Malaysia must keep up to catch up in Asean’s AI race: A Merdeka pledge has begun — Phar Kim Beng

The artificial intelligence race in Southeast Asia has begun, with Indonesia leading the charge, according to a Business Times survey conducted across major Asean economies. Sixty-two percent of Indonesian companies surveyed are classified as AI "first movers," followed by Thailand at 55 percent and Malaysia at 46 percent. Singapore, while registering 36 percent, may reflect a more cautious approach to AI adoption rather than technological weakness.

Malaysia's AI ambitions are increasingly tied to technological sovereignty, with the Sahabat AI initiative developing models that understand Indonesian languages, dialects, and cultural nuances. The goal is to develop technologies rooted in Indonesia's data and society, rather than simply consuming AI produced elsewhere. Malaysia must rapidly expand AI literacy beyond the tech sector and equip small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and ordinary workers to adopt AI at scale to stay competitive.

AI adoption is not measured by conferences or data centres but by whether companies and workers use AI to become more productive. Initiatives such as GDEX's free virtual training for Amazon Quick integration are instructive examples. The Malaysian government, for the first time, has promised free AI training on National Day Address.

Malaysia should work with companies like GDEX to make the AI ecosystem in SMEs more complete and competitive, democratising access before technological inequality becomes entrenched.