Will No Heads Roll Over The MySejahtera Scandal? – Rais Hussin & Ameen Kamal
The people are the true losers, as the government overspends people’s money, enriching the few, while concerns regarding personal data protection remain.
(CodeBlue) – The government appears to have a gun to its head with the application and data of MySejahtera held as ransom. It is likely that upon this consideration (among other things) that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had recommended a government takeover of the app as the solution.
Although officials from the Health Ministry agreed with the PAC’s recommendation, are we supposed to just accept this moving forward, and ignore how the legacy issues came to be?
Let it be reminded that the apparent corporate social responsibility (CSR) trap — which could be due to negligence, oversight, or even intentional — was clearly breaching governance protocols and procurement processes, potentially impacting hundreds of millions of ringgit of public funds, and could have put the personal data of millions of users at risk.
Yet, will no one be held responsible? Just take over the app using people’s money at an exorbitant price, and everyone sings Kumbaya?
It seems a little too convenient, if not negligent, of Malaysian authorities, if the people involved in putting the government in this mess get away even without being investigated.
The PAC remarked that KPISoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd (original developers of the app, and now known as Entomo Malaysia) was appointed to develop MySejahtera through incorrect procurement standards and procedures.
Given that the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) was reportedly signed between the National Security Council (NSC) and KPISoft, the signatories of the NDA must be called the explain themselves to the PAC.
However, there could be significant challenges due to the powerful provisions the National Security Council Act 2016 confers upon the council and its members.
For example, Clause 37 states that members of the NSCl or committee or any person attending any meeting of the NSC or committee are obligated to secrecy.
The most troublesome aspect appears to be Clause 38 which states the following:
“No action, suit, prosecution, or any other proceeding shall lie or be brought, instituted, or maintained in any court against the Council, any committee, any member of the Council or committee, the Director of Operations, or any member of the Security Forces or personnel of other Government Entities in respect of any act, neglect or default done or omitted by it or him in good faith, in such capacity.”
In other words, they are immune, even if it’s an act of neglect or default.
