The Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has questioned the government’s plan to sell its Covid-19 tracker application MySejahtera to a private firm he claimed is owned by known political cronies.
Additionally, he said the deal could also lead to the abuse of personal information obtained through the app, which was developed to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.
The planned sale was disclosed at a Public Accounts Committee hearing on 24 March, health ministry officials informed the panel that the Cabinet had approved the sale on 26 November 2021 via a direct tender.
In his statement on Facebook, Anwar said the company awarded the tender was MySJ Sdn Bhd whose directors include two founders of KPISoft, MySejahtera’s developers. KPISoft has since changed its name to Entomo.
“The directors of MySJ Sdn Bhd also include individuals with political and business connections to parties in the ruling coalition government,”
“Including Tan Sri Dato Seri Shahril Bin Shamsuddin who was the CEO of Sapura Energy until March 2021 and Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Megat Najmuddin who was an UMNO division chief and later a senior member of Bersatu,” the PKR president said.
Anwar then pointed out that the directors have no expertise in operating a software/information technology business, which should raise questions about the planned sale.
He also noted that 71.2% of the shares in MySJ Sdn Bhd were owned by KPISoft’s founders, and said it would be dishonest to claim that there is no link between KPISoft/Entomo and MySJ Sdn Bhd.
“Under an open tender these facts would be scrutinised by the government and the public,” he added.
“In the case of a direct negotiation, this deal appears to resemble a pattern of rewarding companies and individuals that have political and business connections to the ruling government.” Anwar said.
Anwar also questioned the health ministry’s role in ensuring the security of the data that has been collected via the app, and whether it will be abused by a third party, including MySJ Sdn Bhd.
He pointed out that selling the app to a private company could raise “substantial” risk of abuse of private health related data about millions of Malaysians.
He added that the government had previously given a guarantee that personal information obtained by MySejahtera would be used only for managing and curbing the spread of Covid-19 and would not be shared with any third party or transferred to a place outside of Malaysia for commercial purposes.
