#SMT My heartfelt confession

——Opening speech at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum Singapore National Platform (SG IGF)

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon!

It is with great excitement that I am here to inaugurate the Singapore Internet Governance Forum. First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the organizers of this unveiling ceremony, the Asian Academy of Digital Economy, for your professional organization and tireless efforts to make this historic moment a success.

At the same time, I would like to sincerely thank all the esteemed guests present today (ambassadors from nine countries, members of parliament, ministers, university presidents, IMDA directors, professors, experts, and all the elite attendees) for witnessing the birth of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) national platform in Singapore.

Looking back 20 years, the IGF was officially established at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia by the United Nations. It is a truly bottom-up global platform that brings together multiple stakeholders, including governments, businesses, academia, the technical community, and civil society. Over the past 20 years, 178 national and regional IGFs have been established globally, and today, we finally welcome the birth of the Singapore IGF, as Singapore, a global digital hub, finally has its own national platform.

The establishment of the IGF in Singapore is of great significance. It will help the Singapore government participate more systematically in global internet and AI governance dialogues, and showcase Singapore's contributions and forward-looking vision in digital governance more comprehensively. According to the latest global rankings, Singapore ranks third in the field of artificial intelligence and sixth in the field of fintech, fully demonstrating Singapore's leading position in digital innovation.

Behind all this, we cannot do without the government's openness and foresight in policy formulation, and the joint efforts of research, enterprises, and various social forces. It is this spirit of inclusiveness, pragmatism, and collaboration that has made Singapore an important model for global digital governance.

However, I don't know the true face of Lushan, only because I am in this mountain.

In the upcoming era of artificial intelligence, especially general artificial intelligence (AGI), citizens in Singapore and around the world often do not truly own their most important wealth in the digital world — data. This is akin to living in a slave society, where people produce food but cannot own it; we discuss how to increase production, how to reduce harm, and how to improve lives, yet we have never truly discussed — can we become the masters of food, can we no longer be "slaves" in the digital plantation, but become free individuals with data sovereignty.

This is a fundamental issue facing human society today. Unfortunately, at present, no national IGF has responded positively to this question on a global scale. Only Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web, has keenly pointed out that the HTTP protocol he created has given rise to the control and monopoly of user data by today's tech giants. In the era of AI, this control will intensify, and the centralized and asymmetrical use of data will further widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

To change this pattern, Sir Tim proposed the SOLID protocol, a new internet framework that allows everyone to truly own and control their own data. In this direction, a new generation of human-centered technology systems, including LingoAI and MetaLife, is jointly exploring possible paths for data sovereignty, AI fairness, and web trust in Singapore.

The Singapore IGF is an excellent platform to embrace this transformation. It is not only the "national voice" participating in global digital governance but also an innovative engine leading the integration of technological agreements and social mechanisms. When we discover that there is a "natural fit" between technological agreements and human governance logic, the critical point that ignites the revolution of internet protocols may be on the horizon.

It was precisely because I saw this vision that I took the initiative to contact several like-minded partners: from Una, James, and Sameer, who first worked alongside me in the preparations, to the experienced Hock Lai and Victoria, and then to Professor Zhao Jun, representing the academic community. After five months, we finally received the official approval and recognition from the United Nations IGF Secretariat in January 2025, marking the birth of the Singapore IGF.

After today's opening ceremony, Singapore IGF will participate as an official member in the United Nations IGF 20th Anniversary Global Annual Meeting held in Norway on June 23 this year. Twenty years mark a cycle, and Singapore IGF has caught up with the end of this first cycle, but we aim to lead the next 20 years into a new era of "value internet" driven by artificial intelligence.

Next, the founding members of the Singapore IGF will deliver keynote speeches and panel discussions, providing an in-depth analysis of the current state of digital governance in Singapore and globally, and exploring how the Singapore IGF can bring real value to the Singapore government, businesses, and citizens. We look forward to embarking on a new era where technology and governance intersect, and humanity coexists with intelligence.

Thank you, everyone!