Michele Kythe Lim, newly appointed head of the corporate governance and compliance practice at RDS Partnership, believes businesses in Malaysia are still playing catch-up in regulating artificial intelligence (AI).
AI, she said, was among the key trends taking centre stage in corporate governance, alongside human capital and board accountability and diversity. Lim also points to risk oversight as a major focus area, stressing that businesses must identify and respond to emerging risks promptly rather than remaining stagnant.
“AI is evolving at an alarming pace. Most of us are behind the curve on it. We need to catch up and boards, particularly, need to understand how to govern AI and extract the potential out of it for themselves and the company. There is no one size fits all, so everyone needs to do their own homework and be informed. You cannot govern what you do not know,” Lim told Asia Business Law Journal.
Having previously served as the inaugural president and CEO of the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia (ICDM), Lim steps into her new role at RDS Partnership with more than 30 years of experience and three key objectives for the year ahead.
“I see myself in the next 12 months focusing strategically on three pillars, i.e., raising the bar of governance excellence within boards and senior leaders, providing holistic legal and compliance solutions to top-tier PLCs, be it from a corporate or board/leadership perspective, and lastly expanding the thought leadership space in corporate governance,” she said.
Regulatory oversight remains another key focal point for Malaysia. Lim acknowledged that while it “has been very strong”, it is “lagging in enforcement”. This, she said, needed to change.
Other key areas to watch include environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and stakeholder management. She conceded that “these trends are not new but remain relevant. It is the last keg in terms of value creation for corporates”.
Lim added that she expected ESG to remain at the forefront of regulatory developments in Malaysia, together with other areas gaining prominence both locally and across the region.
“For Malaysia and the region, ESG is still relevant. Also, climate governance, renewable energy, carbon offsets, data protection and cross-border data transfers, AI and cybersecurity regulation,” she said.
