by Tan Aik Keong (AK)
With the launch of the 13th Malaysia Plan (RMK13), Malaysia has formally set its course toward becoming a regional digital powerhouse. As the founder of a listed local tech company, I read this five-year blueprint not just as a national development compass, but as a signal flare for where our industry needs to go next.
AI takes centre stage
Technology and digitalisation sit at the core of RMK13, and the first thing worth flagging is the rollout of the National AI Action Plan 2030. The government intends to drive AI adoption across healthcare, the judiciary and manufacturing, while ramping up local AI talent training. For companies like ours, that's a double opportunity: broader AI use cases mean more room to deliver solutions, and a maturing local talent pipeline means less reliance on outside resources.
MyDigital ID and the push for digital trust
A unified digital identity, MyDigital ID, is the key breakthrough in digital governance here. RMK13 positions it as the country's single identity-verification platform, with a target of moving 95% of federal government services fully online by 2030 and using GovTech to lift public-service efficiency. For companies running digital platforms, that materially lowers the cost of identity verification and should lift user trust and conversion.
Infrastructure: 5G, data sovereignty and digital trust
On infrastructure, the government has set a clear target: 98% 5G coverage by 2030. That closes the urban-rural digital divide and lays the technical groundwork for IoT, industrial automation and XR applications. We've already started planning 5G-related solutions to get ahead of the low-latency, high-bandwidth use cases that follow. At the same time, RMK13 leans hard into data sovereignty and digital trust — the National Digital Trust and Data Security Strategy, plus a new national database and data commission, signal that government wants institutional guardrails driving a sustainable digital ecosystem. For us, that means data governance and compliance are becoming a real market-entry bar, not a nice-to-have — we need to move faster on security architecture and auditable data-handling processes to earn both customer and regulator trust.
Talent and industry transformation
RMK13 also sets a target of training at least 5,000 digital entrepreneurs by 2030, alongside stepped-up digital-skills and AI training for civil servants. Over the long run, that should help a genuinely local innovation ecosystem take root. As an industry player, we should be actively involved in talent programmes, partnering with academic institutions on practical training curricula, and building internal incubation mechanisms that produce more local technical breakthroughs. The government is also continuing longer-running strategies — the Fourth Industrial Revolution policy, the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint — and introducing enterprise digital-identity verification and digital-twin technology, both particularly relevant to transforming manufacturing and construction. Companies should be thinking about systemic digital upgrades — simulation, data-driven decision-making — to lift operational efficiency and product competitiveness.
A call to action, not just a policy document
For tech companies, RMK13 isn't just a continuation of national policy — it's a call to action. The direction is set; what matters now is who can actually execute first. Our role has long since expanded beyond "technology vendor" to active participant and collaborator across the entire digital economy. The next five years will be the real test of industry leadership.
As the head of a local tech company, I believe it's only by genuinely embracing RMK13's blueprint — putting technology into practice, working across sectors, and investing in talent — that we can build a globally competitive digital future for Malaysia together.
Part of the AK AI Corner column. Originally published in Oriental Daily (东方日报) on Aug 1, 2025.