What I Hope ERI 2026 Will Achieve

Every energy conference brings together ideas, experience and different perspectives.

As industry leaders gather for Energy Regulatory Insight (ERI) 2026, I hope the discussions can help us think beyond immediate challenges and consider what Malaysia’s energy system will need over the next decade.

From my own experience working around infrastructure, markets and energy development, these are seven areas I hope will receive attention.

1. Keep energy security at the centre

The energy transition is necessary, but reliability and affordability remain fundamental. Economic growth still depends on having energy that is available when it is needed, at a cost the system can sustain.

2. Strengthen the foundations

AI, hydrogen, batteries and data centres are exciting developments. But each depends on something less visible: electricity networks, gas infrastructure, water, fibre, land and transport.

Technology may capture attention. Infrastructure quietly determines what is possible.

3. Plan the system together

Electricity, gas, water, digital infrastructure and land planning are increasingly interconnected.

Perhaps our planning should reflect that reality more closely. Investors may come with one project, but the supporting system often involves many agencies and infrastructure layers.

4. Make regulatory clarity part of our competitiveness

In my experience, investors value certainty greatly.

Clear, transparent and predictable regulation can be as important as incentives in giving investors the confidence to make long-term commitments.

5. Strengthen the system that supports the market

Markets have an important role, but good markets also depend on resilient infrastructure, capable institutions and rules that people understand and trust.

Sometimes the quality of the system matters as much as the design of the market itself.

6. Look beyond our national borders

ASEAN’s energy future will likely become more connected through electricity, gas and digital infrastructure.

Malaysia has an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to how that regional architecture develops.

7. Let execution be the real measure

Conferences are useful because they bring people and ideas together.

But their lasting value is ultimately found in what happens afterwards, i.e. the policies refined, investments enabled, infrastructure built and decisions implemented.

Over the years, I have gradually come to appreciate that energy transformation is rarely about one technology or one policy.

It is about creating the conditions that allow many technologies, investments and market reforms to work together.

Technologies will change. Policies will evolve.

But resilient infrastructure, capable institutions and clear market frameworks will continue to matter.

If ERI 2026 can help strengthen those foundations, I believe it would already be a very meaningful outcome.

All the best !