VERBATIM TEXT

SPEECH BY

YAB DATO’ SERI ANWAR BIN IBRAHIM

PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA

AT

THE LAUNCH OF THE

HUAWEI AI LAB AND INNOVATION CENTRE  

27 APRIL 2026 (MONDAY) | 5.00 PM

EXCHANGE 106, TUN RAZAK EXCHANGE (TRX) KUALA LUMPUR

 

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh dan Salam Sejahtera.

 

Yang Berhormat Datuk Ahmad Fahmi bin Mohamed Fadzil, Menteri Komunikasi;

 

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar,

Ketua Setiausaha Negara (KSN);

 

YBhg. Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican,

Ketua Setiausaha Perbendaharaan (KSP);

 

YBhg. Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din,

Pengerusi Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC);

 

Rakan-rakan yang saya muliakan.

1. Tentunya kita memberikan penghormatan juga kepada Saudara Mr. Terry He dan juga Mr. Wind Li, yang terbang dari Beijing malam tadi untuk bersama-sama majlis pada petang ini.

 

2. I assume you understand as they flew from Beijing. So, Ge Wei Lai Bin Da Jia Hao. Saya tentunya bersama rakan-rakan rasa gembira kerana kita telah capai satu tahap dalam transformasi digital yang lebih tinggi. Kita jadikan ini sebagai di antara fokus dalam strategi pembangunan kita. Kita luncurkan Dasar Transformasi Digital. Kemudian kita tekankan kepentingan meningkatkan keupayaan AI dan AI Untuk Rakyat, dan ini menjawab beberapa permasalahan pokok.

 

3. Pertama, kita harus mengejar teknologi baharu dengan kelancaran, kepesatan, kelajuan. Kalau tidak kita akan ketinggalan.

 

4. Kedua, memerhatikan supaya perubahan ini tidak menyebabkan kesenjangan yang melebar di antara golongan kaya di bandar dengan miskin di luar bandar dan desa pedalaman.

 

5. Dan ketiga, mempertahankan bahawa teknologi baharu termasuk AI tidak menyebabkan kita kehilangan dan luntur nilai jati diri, keabsahan nilai termasuk akhlak. Sebab itu, semua isu ini digarap dengan penguasaan teknologi baharu dan mengambil langkah.

 

Distinguished guest, ladies and gentleman.

 

1. May I can explain my profound things to to Huawei for showing their confidence in Malaysia and supporting most of our endeavours, the training, the exposure, the facilities shared, I think it symbolises the real partnership between us. So, Xie Xie Ge Wei.

 

2. Twenty-five years ago, Huawei arrived in a Malaysia where only a small share of our people had access to the internet. Today, look at the young students, energetic, very…I should say very enthusiastic and also searching for more information and willing to absorb as much as possible.

 

3. So, Huawei, you have a task not only to all here experts, but also the young students who have this great desire to excel in their work and exposure. Thank you very much.

 

4. But again, as you know, this did not happen by chance. Indeed, it happened through sustained investment, serious partnership and a conviction that connectivity is a necessity for participation in modern Huawei of course, has been a vital part of that story, and therefore, and therefore their presence will also be fully supported, endorsed as we have an open system like other established companies, because we have to move up to the next level in our technology trajectory.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

5. We stand today, at a moment that demands our utmost attention, where we are on the precipice of a massive paradigm change. One that is so transformative that it enters into every nook and corner of our lives.

 

6. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we make our goods, how we run our financial systems, and how we reach decisions of real And, in many ways, even how we think. That reality is already upon us.

 

7. In recent weeks, the world has crossed a threshold that we ignore only at our peril. One of the leading developers of AI has produced a model so advanced, and so potentially dangerous, that it has been released only to a small circle of trusted partners.

 

8. That model has demonstrated an ability to identify critical vulnerabilities across widely used software Governments, regulators and security agencies are now examining what this means for the resilience of the infrastructure on which our societies depend. So, Megat make sure you are able to fathom this, because this, if ignored, can be a potential risk to the society at large.

 

9. To be sure, warnings about the impact of technology are not new. Back in the 1950’s, that what I learned from social science, philosopher Martin Heidegger contended that while technology is a way of understanding the world, it could also lead to a mindset that prioritizes efficiency and control over more humanistic values. So, the very pertinent point, if you remember, particularly my young children, the danger towards what we term as dehumanization of man (menghilangkan nilai kemanusiaan dan keinsanan), I refer to Heidegger because he has reminded us since the 50s.

 

10. Do not get me wrong. I am certainly not a Luddite. On the contrary, I am all for the advancement of technology and have been pushing hard for Malaysia to be on the leading edge in this part of the world.

 

11. But we are left to confront an uncomfortable truth. What is that? A technology capable of exposing systemic weakness cannot be left entirely to those who create it. The window for building sound governance is We cannot wait for a disruption to prove the cost of inaction.

 

12. The implications for jobs are no less disturbing. The fact is AI may reshape more jobs than it replaces and the reshaping is already happening. Those most exposed often have the least room to adapt. Young graduates and entry-level professionals face the steepest challenges if their work can increasingly be replicated by well-trained systems at a fraction of the cost.

 

13. Governments have generally not been built for the pace of change that is coming. In fact, the elites normally, we used to consider the elites for those who are most committed to ensuring or accepting change, the propensity to change, but the reality bites hard.

 

14. Many of them so-called elites and the most resistant to change. When you talk about governance, good governance, ff the elites are comfortable with the manner of culture, of corruption and rewarding those mediocre elements, then they will be then the major players to disrupt any attempt to effect reform or change.

 

15. To my mind, the question is not whether disruption will come. It is how fast, and whether our institutions will be ready when it does. Tan Sri KSN is aware, Malaysia is clear- eyed about this, and we are building our response accordingly.

 

16. But first, let me turn to a broader development in the technology industry, one that has little to do with the work being celebrated here today, but which no serious discussion of AI’s future can afford to neglect.

 

17. We now see parts of the Western technology industry claiming a geopolitical role for themselves. They argue that AI companies are not just commercial actors, but instruments in great power competition, with a duty to ensure that Western supremacy prevails.

 

18. This is not a fringe view. We experienced that in the last few years to grapple with decisions that we think is best for Malaysia. But we are confronted with some views, very dogmatic doctrine that certain forms of governance, certain forms of technology, found in the west must dictate our policies. So, they reject meaningful oversight and demands for accountability from democratic governments. They question whether plural societies can thrive and assert that certain cultures are inherently superior to others.

 

19. The classic work by Edward Said’, which I think students must be quite familiar about Orientalism, about considering what is Asian or Islamic as the other, and promoting the Huntington’s thesis of “clash of civilization”. But what we see now goes further, moving straight from claim of a civilizational superiority. Certain civilizations are said to be better because probably they are white, they have a superior culture and that colonial histories and mindset persists, mind you, particularly my young audience here. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.

 

20. Malaysia itself stands as a refutation. We in Malaysia, are a nation of many faiths, languages and ethnic traditions, and we have built something real and lasting from that diversity.

 

21. One only needs to consider, what you need to consider is the civilisations that have shaped this country, and this region. Drawing on Greek philosophy, Persian and Indian scholarship, the Islamic Golden Age gave the world algebra, algorithms – so commonly used, optics and the foundations of modern science, the medicine. That is a testament that knowledge was not confined by faith or lineage.

 

22. At its height, Chinese civilisation carried ideas and technologies across vast networks of exchange, from the Silk Roads to the great maritime voyages while Indian civilisation gave the world the concept of zero, the decimal system, and a long tradition of philosophical inquiry.

 

23. None of these achievements came from isolation. They were the product of exchange and openness. They reflect a refusal to accept that wisdom belongs to any one people alone.

 

24. This is the tradition Malaysia, and we inherits. It should guide how AI is built, governed and shared. Technology companies that see themselves as partners to the societies they serve, rather than arbiters of their fate, will earn the trust that sustains their work.

 

 

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

25. We have established in Malaysia, the National AI Office to drive our AI agenda across government, industry and society. We are developing an AI governance framework, strengthening our data protection regime, and putting in place rules suited to the technologies that are being deployed.

 

26. We are investing in people, in talents. We need your full collaboration in this. Simon is nodding but nothing more can be done, but I needed by the next generation of engineers, researchers and innovators. Malaysia does not intend to remain merely a consumer of AI. We intend to build capability and compete with confidence in the global digital economy.

 

27. And to be sure, flowing from our MADANI core values, our emphasis is on the people as we aim at fostering economic advancement and prosperity with equity and social justice.

 

 

 

28. Pursuing digital transformation driven merely by the quest for material progress will be counter-productive if it leads to the enlargement of social iniquities. Hence, our efforts must be rakyat-centric. It must lead to further narrowing the digital gap between the urban and rural population, between the wealthy and the poor. However, shared prosperity cannot be a mere slogan and must be actualised via clear policies and effective action.

 

29. In this vein, I must first commend Tan Sri Salim, and NADI for the impressive work that I saw yesterday in Permatang Pauh, where this whole concept, sophisticated case of AI can be transmitted to the most rural areas in our country. The schools, rural clinics, farmers, petty traders have the access. That’s what we mean by shared prosperity that President Xi Jinping talks about. So, Malaysia will remain open to investment from East and West, and to partnerships with companies that respect our laws and our priorities. But we will not cede the decisions that matter most: how our data is governed, how AI systems are used in our public institutions, and how new technologies are introduced into the lives of our citizens. Let us be clear: While the technology may come from anywhere, the rules will be made in

 

30. I want to close ladies and gentlemen, by speaking to the students in this

 

31. You are entering a world that will ask a great deal of you. The technology you will work with is remarkable, and it will place within your reach things that would have seemed impossible to me and your It will also place before you choices, about what to build, for whom and under what conditions.

 

32. The question of your generation is not whether artificial intelligence is powerful. It is. The question is whether the people who shape it are wise, and wisdom is knowing when to act, and having the steadiness to pause when the answer is not yet clear.

 

33. Malaysia’s greatest resource has been its people: young people like you who have learned, across generations, to build something of lasting worth together across differences. As the machines grow more capable, that is a form of human achievement the world needs more of, not less.

 

 

34. Congratulations to Huawei Malaysia on the opening of this impressive of AI Lab and Innovation Centre. Happy 25th Anniversary. I look forward with confidence to what we shall achieve together.

 

Xie Xie.