PETALING JAYA: Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming has urged Putrajaya to make government apps more user-friendly and effective.
He was commenting on a parliamentary reply given by the Prime Minister’s Department to Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi, which said that there were more than 200 smartphone apps developed by 93 government agencies.
“After going through some of these apps’ ratings and descriptions, I concluded that just because an app is developed for a smartphone, it does not mean that it is a ‘smart’ app,” Ong said in a statement.
He gave the government 12 recommendations, including getting rid of “useless and infrequently used” apps such as the MYCW2U app, which helps people find the location of the nearest public toilet.
He said the app received a rating of 1.7 out of 5 on Google Play Store, with one review stating that the app is “the most redundant thing ever”.
“If someone really needed to use a toilet in a hurry, I’m guessing that this person would try to find the nearest petrol station or mamak shop using his smartphone, rather than the MYWC2U app,” he said.
Ong said his research showed that 97 of the 200 apps have been downloaded less than 1,000 times.
He said the apps developed by the government must fulfill their functions, and emphasised the importance of listening and responding to user feedback.
The DAP MP also said new features may be added to some apps to increase their functionality, such as weather warnings for the MyCuaca app.
He also encouraged the government to check if the private sector has better alternatives to existing government apps and work with them to improve delivery.
Data protection and privacy must be prioritised, he said, to ensure personal information of users would not be abused, hacked, or sold to third parties.
This comes in the wake of new evidence being investigated by the police linked to a data leak about five years ago that reportedly involved 46 million Malaysian mobile numbers.
The new evidence is believed to have surfaced during arbitration proceedings brought by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) contractor Nuemera (M) Sdn Bhd and MCMC.
It is believed to revolve around the use of a highly-secure laptop computer from the premises of the commission to access a server containing the data of all Malaysian mobile phone subscribers.
The company’s contract was terminated after the data leak led to suspicion about a public cellular blocking service built and operated by Nuemera for MCMC. - FMT
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