SEIZING AGENTIC AI OPPORTUNITY IN M’SIA

 

Leading companies are moving beyond experimentation as a third of “AI future-built” firms have deployed agentic solutions and are demonstrating measurable value.

MALAYSIA stands at a critical inflection point in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race.

After the surge of generative AI, a new wave is emerging in the form of agentic AI.

Agentic AI are AI execution models involving autonomous agents that coordinate across workflows, tools and systems with minimal human input.

While it stops short of true autonomous decision-making, agentic AI’s ability to make actionable decisions within predefined parameters is a game changer.

Malaysia has a solid foundation to build on.

According to Boston Consultant Group’s AI Maturity Matrix, which benchmarks 73 economies globally on AI exposure and AI readiness, Malaysia is classified as a “steady contender”.

It places the nation just one tier behind AI pioneers such as the United States, the United Kingdom and China.

This position reflects Malaysia’s significant exposure to AI, particularly in large sectors like retail and wholesale, telecommunication and financial services.

At the same time, it indicates a solid level of AI readiness, supported by forward-looking ambitions, policies and regulatory frameworks on AI.

An evolving AI landscape

AI is rapidly becoming a critical national infrastructure that empowers wider opportunities.

As a result, geopolitical shifts, compute access and sovereign capability increasingly determine economic outcomes and geopolitical influence.

The US and China lead the global AI race.

Tech companies from these two superpowers created 59% and 26%, respectively, of top-performing large language models (LLM).

This presents a conundrum for competing nations.

Relying solely on external technology providers poses challenges for corporate leaders and governments, especially since local regulations, data requirements and model availability are subject to shifting policies.

Against this backdrop, a small group of “GenAI middle powers” is emerging across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Each has distinct strengths that might allow it to compete as a regional or global technology supplier.

This race now expands beyond software to encompass hardware, infrastructure and technology adoption.

Malaysia must actively build its domestic AI capabilities to avoid high technology sovereignty risks as it looks to the future of agentic AI.

Execution speed and scale will dictate whether Malaysia leads in Asean or falls behind.

Encouragingly, the Digital Ministry, through the establishment of the National AI Office (NAIO), is driving a coordinated national AI agenda – spanning governance frameworks, cross-sector adoption and ecosystem development.

These efforts lay the critical foundations for more advanced applications, including the next wave of agentic AI.

Productivity multiplier

Globally, the shift is already underway and early signs indicate that the rise of agentic AI will be rapid.

BCG’s Build for the Future 2025 study shows that agentic AI’s share of AI-driven value is expected to nearly double from 17% in 2025 to 29% by 2028.

Leading companies are moving beyond experimentation – one-third of “AI future-built” firms have deployed agentic solutions and are demonstrating measurable value.

Early adopters are already unlocking tangible benefits. BCG’s study shows that while companies are exploring agentic AI across operations, support functions and innovation, customer experience is emerging as the top priority.

Leading use cases include deploying intelligent agents to autonomously handle Level 1 and Level 2 customer support, as well as optimising digital marketing campaigns – continuously adjusting bids to maximise returns, reallocating spend to high-performing channels and testing creatives in real time.

AI undoubtedly represents a powerful productivity multiplier for Malaysia.

It can strengthen key economic sectors such as manufacturing, financial services and many other industries. For SMEs, agentic AI can lower the cost of sophistication, providing access to capabilities once reserved for large enterprises.

Beyond the private sector, agentic AI can modernise public services and improve policy-making decisions and delivery in healthcare, education and justice.

It can help bridge urban-rural divides by expanding access to digital services and decision support.

In a nation balancing growth ambitions with demographic and fiscal constraints, agentic AI is not merely a technology upgrade – it is a lever for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Four strategic priorities

To compete effectively in this next phase of AI, Malaysia must act with clarity and intent across four priorities.

> Build sovereign AI capabilities. Malaysia could strategically build sovereign AI capabilities in areas where it has natural strengths and where risk mitigation matters most.

This includes expanding reliable access to compute, leveraging its growing data centre ecosystem.

A pragmatic and technology-neutral approach that combines global technology partnerships with targeted domestic capability-building will be more effective than pursuing full-stack independence.

Technology partnerships could focus on leveraging leading AI innovations from both Western and Eastern ecosystems in a neutral manner.

Open-source AI models offer a practical pathway to reduce dependency risks, accelerate adoption and support local customisation.

At the same time, efforts could focus on enabling responsible use of high-quality local datasets.

> Invest aggressively in talent. Malaysia must pair global talent attraction with sustained local capability development to build the AI workforce needed to compete at scale.

It could aggressively attract top global AI talent through competitive incentives, strong research ecosystems and vibrant innovation hubs, while simultaneously building a deep domestic pipeline of AI talent.

This requires strengthening STEM education, expanding university–industry collaboration, embedding AI in technical and vocational training and accelerating workforce upskilling across sectors.

> Scale national platforms. Malaysia must move from fragmented pilots to scaled national platforms, anchored on high-impact use cases – such as a unified government interface linked to MyDigitalID.

This platform provides a common foundation to embed AI agents that deliver personalised public services.

Scaling up such platforms will catalyse greater private-sector participation and ensure sustainable adoption of agentic AI.

In addition, Malaysia could strengthen exchange platforms that bring together the government, industry and academia to accelerate collaboration, capability-building and use case development.

Associations such as AI Malaysia (AIM), Malaysian Autonomous Intelligence & Robotics Association (MyAIRA), along with other industry associations, can play a critical role in sharing best practices, mobilising talent and aligning stakeholders to drive ecosystem-wide adoption of agentic AI.

> Implement pro-innovation regulation. Malaysia needs regulations that protect users but also preserve competition.

Policymakers could favour a flexible model over rigid frameworks, particularly in a fast-evolving technological landscape.

Malaysia could pursue a balanced approach – combining principle-based guidelines, regulatory sandboxes and sector-specific standards that can evolve alongside the technology.

Priming Malaysia for growth is critical, but it is essential that this is done through a forward-looking and ethical approach.

Malaysia has the opportunity to differentiate itself by championing ethical, inclusive AI.

This is a core foundation of effective AI adoption, and should align with national values, ensuring that trust and confidence underpin the next wave of innovation in agentic AI.

Defining the future

The stakes are clear. AI investment compounds rapidly. Early movers attract capital, talent and vibrant ecosystems.

The choice is not whether AI will reshape the Malaysian economy.

The choice is whether Malaysia will shape that transformation with speed, clarity and ambition while remaining anchored to core Malaysian values.

CF Ong is managing director and senior partner in Boston Consulting Group.

Optimising stroke care through the Angels initiative

 

Stroke remains one of Malaysia’s most pressing health challenges, consistently ranking among the country’s top causes of death.

Aside from the fatality rate, stroke often leaves survivors with lifelong disabilities, affecting not only individuals, but entire families.

In response, the Acute Networks Striving for Excellence in Stroke (Angels) initiative aims to help strengthen stroke care nationwide.

Launched in 2016 by German multinational pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim and endorsed by the European Stroke Organisation (ESO) and the World Stroke Organisation (WSO), the Angels initiative helps hospitals worldwide become “stroke-ready”. 

Its goal is straightforward: to improve stroke treatment by providing hospitals with the tools, resources and support necessary to ensure timely, effective care.

By enhancing hospital preparedness and increasing stroke awareness, the initiative helps healthcare teams deliver faster and more effective treatment.

For Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) consultant neurologist and stroke care leader Dr Law Wan Chung, the initiative arrived at a critical time.

“Stroke has consistently been among the top three causes of death in Malaysia over the past 10 to 15 years,” he explains.

“The Angels initiative is very timely for Malaysia, as we urgently need to reduce both mortality and morbidity related to stroke.”

Every minute matters

There are two main types of strokes: ischaemic, caused by a blood clot blocking a vessel in the brain, and haemorrhagic, caused by ruptured blood vessels that result in bleeding.

The most common type of stroke in Malaysia is ischaemic.

“Without oxygen-rich blood, brain cells begin to die within minutes,” Dr Law explains.

“One minute lost means 1.9 million nerve cells are lost.

“Every 15-minute delay significantly reduces the chance of patient recovery.”

He adds: “Treatment must be delivered within four-and-a-half hours of symptom onset.

“This means patients need to reach the hospital within that window, undergo examination, and most importantly, receive brain imaging to determine whether they are eligible for treatment.”

Yet, many patients arrive too late.

Data from the National Stroke Registry shows that only about 35% reach the hospital within that window.

“On average, patients take around seven hours to seek medical care – far beyond the ideal time frame,” Dr Law notes.

If patients arrive early and meet the criteria, doctors will administer intravenous clot-dissolving medication to break down the blockage and restore blood flow.

However, for patients with large vessel occlusion, where a major artery is blocked, medication alone may not be sufficient.

In such cases, a wire may be inserted through a procedure called mechanical thrombectomy – a minimally-invasive method to physically remove the clot.

Together, these two are the most effective treatments for ischaemic stroke patients, and form the core focus of the Angels initiative in Malaysia and globally.

Becoming stroke-ready

Before participating hospitals are chosen for the Angels initiative, they must first meet essential criteria. 

Promoting public awareness of stroke and the importance of seeking treatment quickly is one of the requirements of the Angels initiative. Photos: Filepic

This includes having a specialist doctor trained in stroke care and access to neuroimaging facilities such as a CT (computed tomography) scanner or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

Once identified, hospitals receive on-site training from the Angels team to establish clear workflows and treatment criteria.

This starts from public awareness and extends to emergency medical services (EMS), i.e. ambulance services.

EMS personnel are trained to recognise stroke symptoms, prioritise patients within the treatment window and alert hospitals in advance.

Upon arrival, whether by ambulance or walk-in, the emergency department rapidly assesses patients and sends them for urgent brain imaging in radiology before a neurologist’s evaluation.

Public awareness also plays a crucial role.

Healthcare providers promote the BE FAST mnemonic to help people recognise warning signs:

• B: Balance problems
• E: Eye or vision disturbance
• F: Facial drooping
• A: Arm or leg weakness
• S: Speech difficulties (slurred or confused speech)
• T: Time, emphasising the urgency of seeking medical help.

“Even one sudden symptom is enough to go to hospital,” Dr Law stresses.

Specific targets

Performance is closely monitored by the Angels team.

Stroke centres are graded gold, platinum or diamond based on key indicators.

These include the total number of stroke patients seen, the minimum number of patients treated over a given period, and the percentage of patients who receive clot-busting treatment.

One critical benchmark is door-to-needle time – i.e. the interval between hospital arrival and treatment – with an international target of 60 minutes.

“At SGH, our initial door-to-needle time was nearly two hours,” Dr Law says.

“Through systematic auditing, we reduced it to under 60 minutes.”

Another key measure tracks the proportion of eligible patients who receive treatment, ensuring that no suitable patient is missed.

Dr Law stresses that leadership is equally vital and that having a dedicated “stroke champion” to coordinate teams and drive improvement is essential.

With only around 170 practising neurologists nationwide and most large hospitals having only one or two, 24-hour coverage remains challenging.

“We cannot rely only on neurologists,” he says.

“This role may also be taken on by physicians, geriatricians or emergency specialists, depending on the hospital’s resources.

“Everyone must work in sync.”

Currently, SGH has earned 10 Gold Awards for hospital performance and one Diamond Award for ambulance performance.

The awards are assessed every three months, requiring hospitals to consistently maintain performance standards.

Beyond individual hospitals, Kuching has been recognised this year (2026) by the WSO as an Angels Region – a designation awarded to areas where community awareness, EMS partnerships and acute hospital care are optimised to deliver better outcomes for stroke patients.

Achieving this requires hospitals, emergency services, local authorities and public educators to work in concert to provide safe, coordinated care for stroke patients in their communities.

Other areas in Malaysia that have received this recognition include the Barat Daya district in Penang and Taiping in Perak.

Introducing a common framework

When Angels was first introduced in Malaysia, stroke services were limited.

In 2017, only about 34 hospitals provided organised stroke-ready treatment, often on a case-by-case basis.

In fact, SGH had already begun 24/7 hyper-acute stroke care as early as 2015, becoming the first hospital in Malaysia to do so.

“The early years were challenging,” Dr Law recalls.

“There was no established system. Everything had to be built from scratch.”

Over time, workflows were refined and systems strengthened.

“We could see that the model worked.”

In 2017, when the Angels initiative was introduced, SGH was the first in East Malaysia to participate and adopt the international protocols and guidelines.

“It allowed us to monitor, audit and expand services – first across the state, and later, nationwide,” he says.

Rather than operating independently, hospitals could work towards shared targets, fostering collaboration and replacing fragmented efforts with a coordinated, standardised approach.

Today, 47 hospitals under the Health Ministry, six under the Higher Education Ministry and 48 private hospitals nationwide provide hyper-acute stroke services.

In East Malaysia, 22 hospitals participate in the initiative, including 12 in Sarawak.

Reaching rural communities

In East Malaysia, geography is often an impediment to getting stroke patients treated quickly, with some needing to be flown to hospitals that have stroke care units.

For patients living near urban centres, access to stroke care is relatively straightforward.

In rural Sarawak, however, geography poses significant challenges.

To address this, an integrated ambulance network was established.

“Patients in smaller district hospitals within the Kuching region – including Bau, Serian and Lundu – can be rapidly transferred,” Dr Law explains.

These cluster hospitals lack neuroimaging equipment, requiring transfer to SGH for such facilities.

“If patients present within the treatment window, ambulances may bypass nearer facilities and transport them directly to SGH to have everything done here, including imaging and treatment,” he says.

Today, most Sarawak hospitals with specialist support and neuroimaging provide hyper-acute stroke care, forming referral networks with smaller facilities.

Mechanical thrombectomy, however, remains limited.

SGH is currently the only centre in Sarawak offering the procedure.

For smaller district hospitals outside Kuching, treatment still relies heavily on medication to dissolve clots.

“Patients from other districts may require air transfer.

“Unlike in Peninsular Malaysia, where ambulances can transport patients over long distances by road, Sarawak’s geography presents challenges, as the state is much larger,” he says.

“Ideally, patients should reach Kuching within six hours, although it may still be considered up to 24 hours after symptom onset.

“Upon arrival, doctors reassess whether brain tissue remains viable before proceeding.”

Dr Law emphasises that the most important message the public needs to understand is that stroke is treatable, and in many cases, reversible.

“The earlier treatment is given, the better the chances of full recovery.”

Related stories:

• Don't dismiss the warning signs of a ministroke
• Always having cold feet? You could have narrowed arteries
• Stroke prevention: Cleaning out the plaque in your carotid artery

While the us con­tin­ues to engage in more viol­ent con­flict abroad, china routinely plans for bet­ter qual­ity growth and devel­op­ment. 

 Shap­ing the future CHINA’S most import­ant annual meet­ings this month come at an unusual and intriguing time. 

The weeklong National People’s Con­gress (NPC) meet­ing cur­rently under­way, flow­ing into another week for the Chinese

 https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star-malaysia/20260308/281865829968970 https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star-malaysia/20260308/281865829968970

https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star-malaysia/20260308/281865829968970 

Shaping the future

While the us continues to engage in more violent conflict abroad, china routinely plans for better quality growth and development.

BUNN NAGARA Bunn Nagara is director and senior fellow at the Renaissance Strategic Research Institute, and honorary fellow at the Perak Academy. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.

8 Mar 2026 

Shaping the future

While the us continues to engage in more violent conflict abroad, china routinely plans for better quality growth and development.

BUNN NAGARA Bunn Nagara is director and senior fellow at the Renaissance Strategic Research Institute, and honorary fellow at the Perak Academy. The views expressed here are solely the writer’s own.

8 Mar 2026

RM79.6bil windfall for EPF members

 

'CLICK TO ENLARGE'

SHAH ALAM: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has declared a lower dividend for 2025 at 6.15% for both conventional and syariah accounts.

The total dividend payout for 2025 is RM79.6bil, whereby RM67.1bil is for conventional accounts and RM12.5bil for syariah accounts.

For 2024, the EPF declared a dividend rate of 6.3% for conventional savings with a total payout of RM63.05bil, as well as a 6.3% dividend for syariah savings, with a payout amounting to RM10.19bil.

EPF chief executive officer Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn attributed the lower payment to the slower growth of Bursa Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI), which grew at 2.3% last year compared to about 12.9% in 2024.

Secondly, he said, assets denominated in the US dollar were also impacted due to the strength of the local currency.

The strengthening of the ringgit against the US dollar “impacted the value in ringgit of our income from dollar assets”, he said during the retirement fund’s dividend announcement yesterday.

“The ringgit does impact our international holdings and it was one of the best-performing currencies in the world, gaining 10.2%.”

The EPF recorded a total investment income of RM79.2bil for 2025, up from the RM74.46bil reported in 2024.

Investment assets grew to RM1.409 trillion, which is a 12.8% increase from the RM1.25 trillion recorded in the previous year, driven by portfolio income and net contributions of RM66.5bil.

'CLICK TO ENLARGE'

The EPF recorded a total distributable income of RM82.7bil for 2025, up 9.5% from RM75.5bil in 2024.

Domestic investments continued to provide steady income, with 61.7% of the RM1.409 trillion worth of assets invested domestically. They generated investment income of RM39.3bil and accounting for 49.6% of total investment income.

Global investments, representing 38.3% of the portfolio, generated RM39.9bil and accounted for 50.4% of total investment income.

Ahmad Zulqarnain said the outlook for 2026 is moderate in the face of uncertainties.

“We believe economic growth will continue to be within expectations for most parts of the world, including continued growth in Malaysia,” he noted.

“Malaysia delivered 5.2% in 2025; the estimates are 4.3% for this year. But as we know, we also live in a world of great uncertainties, more so today than it has been for many decades.

“The risks are around trade policies, geopolitics, the path of inflation and, therefore, monetary policy and interest rates, increasing public debt, and the impact of artificial intelligence, which will create new winners and new losers. We believe Malaysia is in a good place,” he added.

“The top three themes for Malaysia that we believe will be persistent for the next decade are healthcare as we age as a nation, artificial intelligence, data and digitalisation as our personal and work lives become more and more digital, and energy as the world transitions to green energy.”

'CLICK TO ENLARGE'

Meanwhile, the EPF will introduce the i-Legasi scheme, enabling contributors aged 55 and above to pass down their retirement savings to their children.

This scheme allows contributors to transfer their savings “intergenerationally” to their children. However, this applies only to members who are already eligible to withdraw their savings.

Ahmad Zulqarnain also said EPF dividends must be credited into the correct account as provided for under the law.

“If the savings are in Account 1 or Account 2, the dividends must be credited into those accounts,” he said.

“We cannot take dividends from other accounts and transfer them,” he said in reference to Arau MP Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim’s suggestion that the dividends be channelled to the flexible account.

Silver EPF lining

6.15% dividend for conventional, syariah accounts

Silver EPF lining

PressReader

https://www.pressreader.com › the-star-malaysia

 The good news is 41% of contributors have met the RM240,000 minimum savings, and parents can now pass down their retirement funds to their ...Read more

Steady and reassuring' | The Star

The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my › nation › 2026/03/01 › ste...

Steady and reassuring' ... Although the dividend is slightly lower than last year's 6.3%, she described the rate as “steady and reassuring”.Read more