The CEO who restructured Malaysia’s digital economy agency in two years

In his first few months as Chief Executive of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Anuar Fariz Fadzil doubted himself.

“How do I drive over 500 people to do what I want to do?” he remembers asking.

On October 2, two years after taking the responsibility of leading MDEC, he is moving on to pursue different opportunities.

MDEC, as the agency tasked with the advancement of the digital economy, focuses on jobs, exports, revenue of companies, and investments, guided by the national plan Malaysia Digital 2030 Framework (MD 2030).

During his time at MDEC, Anuar stood as a key figure in advancing Malaysia’s digital economy, with MDEC securing close to RM 180 billion (SGD 56.3 billion) in digital investment from more than 1,000 Malaysia Digital (MD) status companies, which are expected to create over 42,000 jobs.

In the agency, Anuar also cut a spread of around seven to 10 divisions into two pillars - one for investment and one for adoption - and pushed the agency toward enabling artificial intelligence (AI) growth in the economy.

As he leaves MDEC in its 30th year anniversary, he shares with GovInsider about his journey, and hopes for what’s next in Malaysia’s digital economy journey.

Breaking down silos

Anuar says that one of the things he’s most proud of is having to breaking down organisational silos within MDEC.

Shortly after joining the agency, he started noticing that different teams did not talk to each other.

“I have experience in both private and public sector, I understand how the government works. So, I’ve worked on making things more efficient and driving excellence,” he says.

“When I came in, I saw many divisions, the spectrum was so wide and sporadic, I didn’t see efficiency there, so I brought it together.”

Now the work runs in one line, investment leads to market access, while market access to local industry, and local industry to people.

These changes were not easy, he says, as the agency came with a long-standing culture.

“What I could have done better is to adjust to the culture, a 30-year-old organisation has a unique culture. But I had to do it,” he notes, adding that he had to do it quickly, because technology stands at the forefront of digital economy and technology does not wait.

AI in every pocket

Anuar notes that AI cuts across every sector.

“For that reason, we're trying to be able to work with more people, more agencies, more businesses to help guide this conversation, because I don't know what the next evolution of tech could be.”

Throughout his tenure, he has been open in his personal AI use and the value he sees in the technology for the wider public.

“The use of AI for me was a necessity because I needed to understand how it works, and I cannot advocate for it if I don't understand it,” he says.

His main proposal is to use Malaysia’s data centre capacity to stockpile AI tokens and give them to MD Status companies for a year to help them in their digitalisation journeys.

This push is also influenced by his belief that the growth and impact of agentic AI will be “bigger than the internet” in the upcoming years.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Digital has a similar vision with the plans of making the country a sustainable AI Nation by 2030 where AI is adopted responsibly to build national capability, trusted governance and local solutions.

The plan targets a digital economy (The plan aims to build a digital economy) worth 30 percent of the national GDP, 500,000 high-value digital jobs and 95 per cent of government services online end to end.

It also aims to shift Malaysia from using digital technology to producing it.

The uncertainty of the future

Data centres made up most of the AI-related investments MDEC registered over the past five years, driven by big tech movers like Microsoft and Google.

But that number is falling.

While the reasons for this are still unclear, Anuar notes a concern about how to meet current targets and the implications on sustainability given the power consumption of data centres.

Classrooms are another pressure, Anuar says. The syllabus lags behind a technology that changes monthly, and teachers often learn alongside their students.

The gap reaches the labour market. MDEC says 81 per cent of employers struggle to hire AI talent, according to an AWS study.

The stakes are high because MD2030 promises 500,000 high-value digital jobs by 2030, and while investment can announce those jobs, only trained Malaysians can fill them.

Malaysian first

Before joining MDEC, Anuar worked at TikTok where he dealt with regulators on teen social media safety.

While TikTok is profit-driven, he approached his work as a Malaysian first. He worked with regulators on what "safe" should mean for teenagers online.

He took that sense of public duty to MDEC, which he calls "the greatest honour of my life."

For every decision he made as MDEC’s CEO, he always considered whether it was good for MDEC, then for the country overall, and then for Malaysians on an individual level.

A message for his successor

Since no single agency owns the digital economy, and every ministry now has a digital element, Anuar emphasises that MDEC needs to stand as the subject matter expert.

“I don’t want us to be bystanders,” he says. “We have to be a stakeholder.”

He highlights the need to continue working on infrastructure, education, soft skills, teaching and learning as these all have an impact on the digital economy.

“The past 30 years were lessons in what we need to do, lessons in how we need to get things done. We need to celebrate the present but also must look to the future, stay prepared for changes,” he says.

Anuar also highlights the need for the government to be agile in implementing national policies on technology and AI to adapt to the rapidly changing environment, while continuing to work with different experts to ensure every perspective is listened to.

“Ultimately, MDEC is a collection of people and that is our biggest treasure, but we need to be able to guide that as well. I'll be the first to say we don't know everything, so that's why working with private sector, working in the public sector, is really important.”

And for his successor, he leaves two things:

 “Number one, the absolute treasure that is our MDEC talent. Number two, looking to the future. And right now, it's AI. How do we harness AI for Malaysia? And then, I wish them all the best.”