Anas Istikhor - anas.istikhor

A pane of glass fractured with sharp cracks and a hollow center, symbolising fragile systems that appear solid until they break.

🤝 Trust & Systems

To Those Who Trust the System Without Question

Trust isn’t earned by systems that work most of the time. It’s revealed in failure who carries the risk and who gets protection.

Tugu Negara, Kuala Lumpur — built to honor those who fought for independence. Real Merdeka today is about defending principles that protect people every day.

🇲🇾 Malaysia

Flags Don’t Make Us Independent. Principles Do.

Independence isn’t in flags or parades. In 2025, Merdeka must mean principles strong enough to protect people every day.

🇲🇾 Malaysia

Why "Digital Inclusion" Rings Hollow Without the B40

Malaysia’s digital inclusion story counts the B40 as users but not as participants. Access without protection isn’t empowerment; it’s exposure. True inclusion demands trust, resilience, and safeguards for the most vulnerable.

Floating black cube against cloudy sky, symbolising AI’s black-box complexity and hidden influence in decision-making.

🤖 AI Ethics

What We Miss When We Say "AI is Just a Tool"

Calling AI “just a tool” is false comfort. Tools don’t shape human will; AI does. It influences decisions, creates feedback loops, and demands accountability beyond the hammer analogy.

Yellow road sign reading “Speed Bumps Ahead,” symbolising intentional friction as a safeguard in system design.

⚔️ Strategic Friction

The Friction Layer in System Design

Smooth systems fail where it matters. The right friction force pauses, makes consequences visible, and turns speed into trust. In critical design, slowing down is the real safeguard.

Fast-moving lights on a dark road curve—showing policy moving too fast for ethics to keep up.

🇲🇾 Malaysia

Policy Moves Faster Than Principles

Malaysia’s digital policy momentum is real, but ethical design hasn’t caught up. This post explains why speed without principles creates risk.

💳 Fintech

Why Malaysia's Fintech Isn't Ethical by Default

Malaysia’s fintech boom looks promising but is it ethical by design? This post explores hidden assumptions, transparency failures, and why local isn’t always trustworthy.

AI face made of broken symbols—showing how people see AI as powerful but unclear.

🤖 AI Ethics

What Malaysia Gets Wrong About Building Trustworthy AI

Malaysia is investing heavily in AI. But without trust, those systems will fail. This post explores the design gap, and how to fix it.

Loose LEGO pieces—showing how ideas don’t work when they aren’t built into real systems.

🤖 AI Ethics

The Real Reason Most Ethical AI Frameworks Fail

Most ethical AI frameworks fail for the same reason: they were never meant to survive real-world constraints.

Half-built bridge with machines—showing that trust needs strong structure from the start.

🤝 Trust & Systems

How I Think About Trust in High-Stakes Systems

Trust isn’t a feature. It’s a constraint. Especially in systems where being wrong costs more than data.

Close-up of plasma globe evoking neural pathways—symbolizing strategic memory and thought connections.

🎯 Thinking Discipline

Why I Write: Building Strategic Memory

This blog isn’t about building a brand. It’s how I preserve the thinking behind decisions.