Kuala lumpur: Malaysia's civil servants are becoming more productive with the adoption of digital technologies, but a prevailing culture of secrecy remains a major obstacle to further progress. World Bank Lead Economist for Malaysia Apurva Sanghi said the world's largest survey of civil servants, involving over 16,500 officers across all 28 federal ministries, in collaboration with the Public Service Department, revealed that artificial intelligence (AI) is saving civil servants an average of 2.5 hours a day.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, civil servants have reported varying degrees of productivity gains, with the Ministry of Digital (MOD) and the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) leading in AI tool usage. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) are lagging behind. The GovTech Skills Survey of Malaysian Public Servants 2025 showed the MOD had the highest frequency of AI usage, with 78 respondents using AI tools at least once a week, compared to only 42 respondents from the KPWKM.
Malaysia was also found to outperform both Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and ASEAN peers in several areas. The Global GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI) 2022 by World Bank highlighted Malaysia's scores of 1.0 in cloud platforms, disruptive technologies, and Government Service Bus (GBS), surpassing OECD averages of 0.81, 0.86, and 0.74, respectively, and ASEAN averages of 0.74, 0.61, and 0.60. GBS serves as a central platform for digitally integrating government agencies, facilitating data exchange, and providing integrated e-services to the public.
In enterprise architecture, Malaysia scored 0.80, outperforming OECD's 0.63 and ASEAN's 0.65. In open-source software, Malaysia scored 0.62, ahead of ASEAN's 0.38 but slightly behind OECD's 0.59. However, Sanghi noted that Malaysia's 'secrecy-by-default' culture presents a significant barrier to progress. The country lags behind OECD countries in the disclosure of service delivery data, with only 26.1 percent of data published externally compared to 35 percent for OECD members, although Malaysia performs slightly better than the ASEAN average of 22.3 percent.
More than 54.5 percent of Malaysia's service data is not published at all, which is higher than the OECD average of 49 percent, but better than ASEAN's 64.7 percent. The Global Data Barometer (GDB) places Malaysia in the mid-range between its OECD and ASEAN peers, performing reasonably well in governance and capabilities but weaker on data availability, use, and impact.
Sanghi emphasized that while Malaysia scores well on digital metrics and civil servants feel more productive, the real measure of success is improved outcomes for the people. This requires a shift from 'secrecy-by-default' to 'openness-by-default', and a strong Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will be crucial. However, he cautioned that the effectiveness of FOI laws can be undermined by governments stonewalling requests, imposing high fees, or invoking national security. The success of Malaysia's FOIA will depend on how it addresses these challenges, while balancing its provisions with those of the Official Secrets Act (OSA).