DFCE 2025: Cultivating Trust and Accountability in Personal Data Handling

Organised by AITI in conjunction with the Mid-Year Conference and Exhibition (MYCE) 2025, the Digital Future Conference and Exhibition (DFCE) 2025 was held from 4 to 5 June 2025 at Setia Point, Berakas. This year’s conference carries the theme “Building Trust and Enabling Innovation for a Sustainable Digital Future” which explored a range of forward-looking topics including Personal Data Protection, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Online Safety, with a special focus on ensuring that digital transformation enhances, rather than undermines public trust.

The opening ceremony was graced by Yang Berhormat Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha, Minister of Transport and Infocommunications, as the guest of honour. Addressing the recent enactment of Personal Data Protection Order (PDPO), the guest of honour highlighted its main purpose in his keynote address, which is to foster greater public confidence, instilling a culture of accountability within organisations and cultivate trust amongst individuals on how their personal data are handled. Upon the end of its one-year sunrise period, PDPO will be fully enforced in January 2026. He also commended AITI for the publication of two key guidance documents, “Guide to Developing a Data Protection Management Programme” and “Guide for the Appointment of Data Protection Officers” to assist organisations in navigating through its requirements

Brunei’s local context was brought into focus by Farah Zainal from the Data Protection Office of AITI, who presented on “Appointment of Data Protection Officers under the PDPO.”  The session culminated in a high-level panel discussion titled “Beyond Compliance of the PDPO: Building a Data Protection Culture Across the Organisation.”  Moderated by Farah Zainal, the panel featured Eu Gene Tan, President, AsiaDPO; Christopher Chew, Technical Leader, Security & Digital Trust, CISCO and IAPP Asia Advisory Board Member; David N. Alfred, Co-Head of the Data Protection, Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice at Drew & Napier, and Nadherah Amir, Cyber Security Compliance & Risk Engineer at UNN Sdn Bhd. With the recent enactment of PDPO, this session provided timely and relevant knowledge to support compliance and operational readiness.

DFCE 2025 marks a key milestone for Brunei Darussalam’s digital ecosystem, reinforcing the critical need to develop a culture of trust, accountability and responsible data use. Attendees gained valuable insights that can help align their data protection strategies with both local legislation and global best practices.

The event concluded with a recap of the key insights explored across both days by Norshahrul Nizam Othman, Assistant Chief Executive of Data Protection Office and International Group from AITI, followed by a networking session that encouraged continued collaboration among local and international participants.