KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 27 -- For years, Malaysia talked about reform, economic renewal and digital transformation.

In 2025, the country finally crossed several historic milestones it had long postponed - marking a year defined not by incremental change but instead, achieved a series of long-awaited firsts that set the nation on a new path.

From long-delayed infrastructure to sweeping policy reforms, here are some of the biggest "Malaysia firsts" of 2025.

National Artificial Intelligence (AI) framework

Malaysia launched its first national AI governance framework, setting standards across ethics, data use, safety, model training and public-sector adoption.

Large-scale implementation of targeted subsidies

2025 saw the end of blanket subsid...