Inaugural Law, Risk and Governance forum in Kuala Lumpur drew judges, regulators and general counsels to tackle AI governance, cybersecurity and the future of legal leadership
Malaysia’s push to govern Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Data Protection took centre stage on Saturday at the inaugural She Leads. She Defends: Women in Law, Risk & Digital Governance Forum 2026, held at Four Points by Sheraton, Puchong. Organised by WomenAtlas Media & Events, powered by Laurea People’s Signature and founded by Nisha Meng Mingg Li, the one-day forum drew judges, regulators, board directors, general counsels and rising legal talent under a theme that set the tone for the day: Where Governance Met Its Match: The Women Shaping Malaysia’s Digital Future.
The event argued that the conversation around women in business has moved past counting board seats and into a more consequential question — who writes the rules governing Malaysia’s digital economy. The opening programme was officiated by Dalvin Kaur, Head of Legal, Group Global Banking at Malayan Banking Berhad and a council member of the Chartered Governance Institute, Malaysia, alongside co-officiator Rita Irina Wahab of Naza Corporation Holdings.
The day was structured around four pillars — Law & Justice, Policy & Governance, Business & Leadership, and AI, Cyber & Digital Trust — reflecting organisers’ view that these functions, once siloed, can no longer be treated separately inside modern companies.
AI Governance emerges as the Sharpest Gap
The forum’s most closely watched session, “AI Governance: Are Malaysian Organisations Really Ready?”, featured Dr Salasiah Abbas of SOVA Intelligence, Wendy Lim of the High Court of Malaya and Cally Yau of PEOPLElogy, moderated by Moyra Ibrahim of ECS Solution Group. Panellists pointed to a stark implementation gap: while the large majority of organisations report having some form of AI governance framework in place, only a small fraction say those frameworks are actually working effectively in practice — underscoring that adoption of AI tools has outpaced companies’ ability to manage the risks that come with them, from data leakage and algorithmic bias to unresolved questions of accountability and intellectual property.
A companion keynote, “Law in the Age of AI: Why Every Legal Leader Must Understand Technology,” delivered by Dr Pin Lean Lau, Founder and CEO of ReGenTech, argued that technical fluency is becoming a core competency for legal leaders rather than a niche specialism. As artificial intelligence reshapes how businesses operate, she cautioned, choosing not to understand the technology is itself a risk, one the profession can no longer afford to overlook. The message to the room was clear: in a rapidly changing legal landscape, understanding the tools is no longer optional.
Cybersecurity and Digital Evidence as Boardroom Duties
Jane Teh, Founder and CEO of VortiQ[x], addressed “Cybersecurity in the Boardroom: Leading the Digital Defence,” reframing cyber risk as a governance responsibility for directors rather than a purely technical matter for IT departments, including the obligations boards carry before and during a breach. She warned that a board that has never rehearsed a breach scenario risk freezing on the decisions that matter most while the clock is running and argued that strong oversight should be a standing agenda item, not an occasional briefing. The rise of agentic AI, she added, only sharpens the stakes, as systems that once merely recommended now act, at machine speed, with the authority organisations grant them.
The forum also looked at how digital transformation is reshaping the justice system itself. Raihanah Abd Razak of the Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia presented “From Investigation to Prosecution: Enforcing Law in a Cyber-Enabled World,” examining how decisions made early in a digital investigation can determine whether evidence later holds up in court as emails, cloud records, access logs and messaging data increasingly become central to criminal and corporate cases.
A further panel, “The Modern Legal Leader: Where Law, Risk, Compliance and Regulation Meet,” brought together Azreena Askalani of Bursa Malaysia, Jiwantti G. of YTL Communications and Syafiqah Abdul Razak of Atiqah Syafiqah & Associates, moderated by Rhaveena Shree Darhavyl of Iconix Property & Asset Management, on how legal, risk and compliance functions are converging — and why that convergence can be a competitive advantage as Malaysian companies expand across ASEAN’s varied regulatory landscapes.
A Platform Built for Succession
Organisers deliberately opened the room beyond established professionals, reserving places for young lawyers, graduates and selected students alongside judges, arbitrators, general counsels, board directors, regulators and policymakers — institutions represented on the day included Maybank, Bursa Malaysia, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the High Court of Malaya, the Public Service Department and Asia Pacific University.
WomenAtlas Media & Events, which describes itself as a women’s leadership platform connecting members with funding, opportunities and strategic networks through forums, summits and awards, positioned She Leads. She Defends. as its inaugural Law, Risk and Governance forum. With Malaysia’s regulatory environment around AI, Cybersecurity and Data Protection still being written, organisers framed the forum’s core message as a call for women across law, business and technology to help shape that rulebook — rather than simply operate within one built without them.
