Message from the CEO 4Q 2025: Your Future, Our Responsibility

We are going through a very special time in history, a sensitive time, and in fact a challenging time. The world has transited from a bipolar world during the Cold War to a unipolar world and now we are transiting to a multipolar world. But in this multipolar world, we see that many of the institutions we were familiar with for 80 years in the liberal world order are fast being undermined and dismantled – and strangely – by the country that led its establishment and development.

Our future is not just a multipolar world – it is an entire paradigm shift to a very fundamental civilisational reset, where the Western civilisation, which has been dominant for the last 300 years, is being challenged internally to its core. The Western civilisation, including both Europe and America, has never had a serious internal crisis as it has today in the last 100 years since the 1930s.

At the same time, we have the rise of Asian civilisation particularly in China, whose civilisational challenge today is not only economic or military but encompasses values of political governance and responsibility. If it is going to be a civilisational reset, we cannot look at it from the Western point of view only.

This brings an important perspective on Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is not merely about DeepSeek vs OpenAI, but about ensuring that Asian sources of knowledge contribute to AI development. For instance, while AI’s knowledge base today is heavily Western, Asian traditional medicine and cultural understanding should also be part of its learning. Local knowledge and societal norms are vital to understanding science, economics, and social development.

Going forward, AI presents structural challenges to the labour market. Technological shifts may disrupt industries and jobs, while creating new ones. As uncertainties persist, it is critical that we prepare for the future — because status quo is not an option. We must invest in new skills, in our people, and in our families’ future to thrive in the coming years.

At Private Pension Administrator Malaysia (PPA), we recognise that our industry is also at a turning point. The environment is complex, but change is no longer reactive. As the market evolves, PPA is taking greater responsibility to engage members, providers, and stakeholders so we can manage risks and close knowledge gaps that might undermine retirement outcomes.

We will strengthen advocacy efforts and introduce analytics features to support better decision-making. Once seen as a back-office function, PPA is now positioned as a key driver of member outcomes and industry growth. We are investing in both technology and people to meet growing expectations and deliver a member-centric experience.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
– Charles Darwin

Warm regards,
Taufiq Iskandar
Chief Executive Officer
Private Pension Administrator Malaysia (PPA)