Bangkok, 30-31 March 2026 – INITIATE.MY founder and executive director, Aizat Shamsuddin participated in SEA-ACN, Open Data on Data-Driven Investigation Workshop at The Landmark Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand.
The regional workshop brought together regulators, civil society actors, and anti-corruption practitioners from Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia to address a shared challenge: monitoring politically exposed persons across borders. Corruption rarely respects national boundaries, yet Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) data remains fragmented, inconsistently defined, and difficult to access throughout the region.
Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office clarified that PEP classification is a risk management tool, not an accusation of wrongdoing. Thailand recently updated its regulations requiring banks, real estate firms, and other businesses to identify and report PEPs, with penalties reaching one million baht for non-compliance. However, implementation remains difficult for small businesses lacking affordable compliance tools. United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crimes’s (UNODC) regional representative reinforced this point, noting that overly broad definitions create confusion, as even mid-level international officials can trigger enhanced due diligence based on titles alone. The emphasis should be on proportional, risk-based monitoring rather than blanket avoidance.
Malaysia’s Sinar Project presented its civil society-led approach to mapping PEP networks using official records, beneficial ownership data, and media reporting. A recurring challenge is that once PEPs are publicly identified, they often shift assets into trusts, holding companies, or nominee structures. Sinar argued that PEP data should be treated as a public good, not a commercial product controlled by private providers.
Transparency International Indonesia noted that while domestic regulations exist, PEP data is scattered across multiple agencies with inconsistent retention periods and only around 51% compliance in beneficial ownership reporting. A centralised national registry was identified as an urgent need.
The workshop exposed some common themes that emerged across all three countries: the need for centralised and digitised PEP databases, standardised definitions aligned with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, affordable compliance tools, stronger enforcement, and sustained collaboration between regulators, civil society, and investigative journalists. Open data initiatives were recognised as essential foundations for meaningful cross-border accountability.
