Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) is deeply concerned by this recurring pattern of data leaks from Malaysian Government agencies empowered and entrusted with our personal data.
Media reports last week revealed that data from the voting portal MySPR was publicly on sale on the internet. It was also reported that the caretaker Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri had merely urged the Election Commission to probe the matter.
This is not the first time this year the news about the sale of confidential information of Malaysians has been on sale in the public domain. This is a recurring problem and a serious national issue that has been responded with lacklustre assurances of action and investigation by ministries and agencies that have been passing the buck from one to another, said President of TI-Malaysia.
Data security of Malaysians seems to have been seriously compromised from time to time and there seems to be a lack of sincere accountability and commitment to identify and plug the leaks. More importantly one suspects there must have been corrupt activities which led to the leakage and all involved should be brought to justice for such criminal acts.
The Rakyat must urge the present and the incoming government for a commitment to data privacy and cyber security and throw out any parties that are lost on the data highways and stuck in the stone ages.
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Note to Editors: For clarification on this statement from Transparency International – Malaysia (TI-M), kindly refer to Dr. Muhammad Mohan, President of Transparency International Malaysia (mmohan@transparency.org.my)
