OPPOSITION leader Anwar Ibrahim has raised questions over the government’s sale of the MySejahtera app to a private company without an open tender. 

In a statement, the PKR president said Putrajaya must clarify why it didn’t allow the Covid-19 mobile app to remain under the control of the Health Ministry (MOH) instead.

“Why was the decision made to sell MySejahtera to a private company instead of allowing the app to remain under the control of MOH? 

“Why was a public tender not conducted in order to make the sale of this a transparent and what are the reasons MySJ Sdn Bhd is the only company under consideration for this project?” asked the Port Dickson MP.

According to Anwar, the government decision to give up control of the MySejahtera app, by direct negotiation, was made by the cabinet during a meeting on November 26 last year. 

However Anwar added that in December 2021, the Public Accounts Commission (PAC) recommended the government take over the operation of MySejahtera without incurring any additional costs, given that it has become an integral part of the national health system.

Last Thursday, at a PAC hearing, questions were raised over the sale of the MySejahtera Covid-19 tracking app to a company in the private sector. 

Speaking further, Anwar asked how MOH would be able to ensure the data collected by MySejahtera will not be misused by third parties including MySJ Sdn Bhd. 

“What are MySJ Sdn Bhd’s obligations to ensure the data Malaysians shared via MySejahtera on the basis of a public mandate will not be used for marketing, product development, surveillance, or discriminatory purposes? 

“What is MySJ Sdn Bhd’s scope of work as it pertains to the operation of MySejahtera and how is MOH able to ensure the data collected by MySejahtera are not misused,” asked Anwar. 

When it was first developed in 2020, MOH said it fully owned the data collected through the app, supervised by the National Cyber Security Agency and the National Security Council.

On December 20, 2020, CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer stated that the MySejahtera data were secure.

“These data are solely used for Covid-19 monitoring and not shared with any third party as they are subject to secrecy.” – March 27, 2022.