MP suggests ending MySejahtera use amid privacy concerns

 

Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin has proposed ending the use of the MySejahtera application, which has been the government's key tool during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said this amid the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings on the government's engagement with Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly KPISoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd) to develop the application without a contract.

Even though Putrajaya has maintained all user data belongs to the government, Chan (above) said the absence of a contract means there are no clear rules on how the data is managed.

"There is nothing to regulate the usage of the data obtained during this period," he said in a statement.

Health Ministry Khairy Jamaluddin had acknowledged that the licence owner of the MySejahtera application has access to personal data although it is under the Health Ministry's supervision.

Entomo, which initially developed the MySejahtera application as a "corporate social responsibility" effort for the government, sold the licence of the application to MySJ Sdn Bhd for around RM300 million.

The government is now working on acquiring the application but is aiming for a sum that is "much lower than RM300 million".

"It is... shocking that nobody, not even the National Security Council (NSC), is willing to own up whose oversight was it to have no contract whatsoever with KPISoft.

"This oversight has cost Malaysians a sum 'much lower than RM300million' but clearly in the region of 'millions'.

"It is odd that the NSC, as the guardian of national security, seems to be sorely unaware of such a national security breach and is now washing its hands off this hot potato.

"Perhaps it is time to put a stop to such usage of MySejahtera as, clearly, it is just a matter of time the data will be misused commercially, perhaps even to the detriment of national security," Chan said.

Singapore-based firm

Meanwhile, Muda vice president Zaidel Baharuddin said the NSC owes an explanation on how it allowed a Singapore-based firm to manage the personal data of Malaysians.

"How is a foreign company given permission to manage the personal data of every Malaysian without a contract with the Malaysian government other than a non-disclosure agreement?" he said.

The government maintained that the majority owners of the firm are Malaysians even though it is based outside the country.

Zaidel urged Bersatu leader Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof, who was the special functions minister in the Prime Minister's Department when the government commissioned the development of the application in 2020, to explain the matter.

PAC chairperson Wong Kah Woh had said Putrajaya appeared confused as to which branch of the government commissioned the development of the MySejahtera application, in absence of a contract. - Mkini