KUALA LUMPUR – The Digital Ministry will study the provisions related to personal data protection in the Omnibus Act draft bill to balance the necessity of data sharing and individual rights.
Minister Gobind Singh Deo was responding to William Leong (Selayang-PH) who asked the ministry whether there are plans to include provisions that would protect personal data from being misused by the government in the bill which will be tabled soon.
“The bill was proposed to supervise data sharing among agencies in the public sector.
“The ministry also acknowledges the need to protect personal data from being abused by any party while data is being shared across agencies.
“Although government agencies are exempted from the application of the Personal Data Protection Act (Act 709) by reference to Section 3 of the same act, public officers are still bound by the Official Secrets Act 1972 and Public Officers Regulations (Conduct and Discipline).
“These officers will be subject to disciplinary action if they are convicted of data leakages while handling personal data,” he told Dewan Rakyat.
Gobind said the core basic principles of the Omnibus Act is still in the process of being established.
The act will allow data sharing and cloud storage among government agencies, which is necessary as its various databases are subject to different acts which do not allow them to share data.
The act’s introduction follows the implementation of the Central Database Hub or Padu, which ensures that government subsidies are properly targeted.
Earlier in January, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli was reported as saying that the Omnibus Bill must be passed within a year after Padu’s introduction due to the urgent need to roll out targeted subsidies. – July 3, 2024