Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told the press yesterday that MySejahtera users’ personal data is protected by the government with a non-disclosure agreement, and is not shared with the private sector or a third party.
The importance of a centralised national contact tracing application in managing Covid-19 cannot be underscored, hence we urge the government to safeguard the ownership of MySejahtera.
Key issues that may arise if we do not have a trustworthy owner for MySejahtera include breach in personal data privacy, misuse of public data and decline in public trust. This will subsequently erode public trust in governance and accountability, which are key to our successful transition into an endemic state for Covid-19.
We urge the government to rebuild public trust in MySejahtera through regular and transparent updates on privacy and data usage policies for the app. This must include publishing legal documents that explain the data governance (such as which servers, who has access to the data, and how is the data processed).
The rakyat must know the legal structure of all the private companies involved. Technical transfers of ownership for MySejahtera should not be made through direct negotiations without the rakyat’s knowledge. The government and Health Ministry must institute measures, including possible legal recourse, to increase the public’s trust in MySejahtera.
Protecting the rakyat’s health and data privacy must go hand in hand and cannot be compromised at any cost. Public health needs trust to be successful.
MALAYSIAN HEALTH COALITION - Star, 2/4/2022
Singaporean Company Is MySejahtera Software Owner’s Sole Shareholder
By Boo Su-Lyn | 29 March 2022Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly KPISoft Malaysia) lists Singaporean company Entomo Pte Ltd as its sole shareholder; Entomo Pte Ltd’s biggest shareholder is also a Singaporean company.
The Ministry of Health's MySejahtera Covid-19 app. Picture by CodeBlue.
KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 – The current sole shareholder of Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd – which legally owns the software it used to develop Malaysia’s Covid-19 app MySejahtera – is a company registered and based in Singapore, Entomo Pte Ltd.
A Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) search today shows that Entomo Pte Ltd owns 300,004 shares in Entomo Malaysia, formerly known as KPISoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd, that has issued share capital of RM300,004.
SSM’s record on Entomo Malaysia’s shareholder particulars lists Entomo Pte Ltd, the sole shareholder, as “foreign”, with a Singapore-based address.
According to a company search on Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) yesterday, Entomo Pte Ltd has four directors: Malaysian Raveenderen Ramamoothie; Singaporeans Tan Seng Hong and Finian Tan; and Indian national Naveen Pralhad Deshpande.
Raveenderen is also Entomo Pte Ltd chief executive officer, based on the ACRA record. According to Entomo’s website, Finian Tan is chairman, whereas Naveen is co-founder and chief operating officer.
Entomo Pte Ltd has paid-up capital of some SG$10.2 million and about US$26 million.
DreamTeam Incorporation Pte Ltd, registered in Singapore with an address in Singapore as well, is the biggest shareholder in Entomo Pte Ltd with 35,524,848 ordinary shares in Singapore dollars.
Entomo Pte Ltd – which has 28 shareholders in total – lists five Singaporean corporate shareholders, two American corporate shareholders, one Japanese corporate shareholder; as well as eight Japanese individual shareholders, four Singaporean individual shareholders, three Malaysian individual shareholders, three Indian individual shareholders, one American individual shareholder, and one Indonesian individual shareholder.
The National Security Council (NSC) said in a statement on July 1, 2020 that “KPISoft” was founded by two Malaysians – Anuar Rozhan and Raveenderen Ramamoothie – who were also the “biggest shareholders of the company to date” then. NSC also said KPISoft was a local MSC-status company founded in 2010.
However, SSM records show that KPISoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd, which changed its name to Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd on May 20, 2020, was incorporated on June 21, 2005.
SSM’s record on Entomo Malaysia’s shareholder particulars also shows no change of shareholding since January 31, 2017, when the company registered its document on the date of change in shareholding lodged with SSM.
This indicates that Singaporean company Entomo Pte Ltd has been Entomo Malaysia’s sole shareholder since at least 2017.
The Hansard of a meeting by the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on March 8 this year showed confusion over the actual names of KPISoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd and MySJ Sdn Bhd, as Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Finance (MOF) officials at the meeting initially referred to the former company as KPISoft Sdn Bhd.
“How can the Cabinet approve this if such information can’t be accurate?” PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh said, referring to the Cabinet’s approval last November for direct negotiations with MySJ on MySejahtera.
“Yes, that’s right. Maybe NACSA (National Cyber Security Agency) is the one who brought this paper, or the NSC. They all didn’t do a thorough check, but no matter, we have instructed MOH to check this issue. If it’s found that this really is inaccurate, then Mr Chairman needs to bring this back to the Cabinet,” replied MOF division deputy secretary (government procurement) Rosni Mohd Yusoff.
Share Sale Agreement: Malaysian Government Owns Data Collected Through MySejahtera
According to a share sale agreement on December 31, 2020, between two MySJ shareholders – Revolusi Asia Sdn Bhd and P2 Asset Management Sdn Bhd – which was disclosed in a supporting affidavit by Entomo Malaysia in an ongoing court case, Entomo Malaysia is the owner of “all rights, title and interest, including all intellectual property rights” related to the MySejahtera app.
This excludes the “trademark and data collected through the operation of MySejahtera” that are owned by the Malaysian government.
Through an October 6, 2020 licence agreement disclosed by the affidavit, Entomo Malaysia gave MySejahtera’s intellectual property rights to MySJ and granted MySJ a perpetual licence to use Entomo Malaysia’s “proprietary software” to develop and support the MySejahtera app for RM338.6 million in a deal until end 2025.
The licence agreement states that MySJ only acquires a licence to the KPISoft software specifically for MySejahtera and “does not acquire any other rights or ownership interests.”
These public court documents were filed in a lawsuit that P2 Asset Management initiated last November against Entomo Malaysia, Revolusi Asia, and MySJ over an alleged breach of a share sale agreement between Revolusi Asia and P2 Asset Management.
Malaysians Anuar and Raveenderen are on MySJ’s board of directors.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told the press yesterday that MySejahtera users’ personal data is protected by the government with a non-disclosure agreement, and is not shared with the private sector or a third party.
He also acknowledged that a contract had not been created when KPISoft developed MySejahtera for the Malaysian government for free as part of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative that ended on March 31 last year.
The health minister further said that after his appointment last August, he sought to transfer management of MySejahtera to MOH and to put a contract into place, as KPISoft had been providing the app’s services to the government via the NSC without a legal agreement.
MySejahtera, which has 38 million registered users, contains
information on Malaysia’s Covid-19 epidemic, including positive cases,
their location, and those under home quarantine, besides users’ personal
data that includes their name, IC number, phone number, and check-ins
at public premises. - Code Blue, 29/3/2022
KUALA LUMPUR: MySJ Sdn Bhd today assured that data in the MySejahtera application belonged solely to the government and for pandemic management purposes only.
Its chief business officer Aiza Azreen Ahmad said there was no abuse of user data as the application is subject to provisions under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).
"The data we have is in the cloud (network) in Malaysia and has never been anywhere else.
"After 30 days, it will be archived and be placed in a sort of demilitarised zone where the public have no access to it.
"And after 90 days, there will be an auto-deletion process of the data."The data is owned by the government where we will archive then delete. We are aware of the public's concern but this is also a way for us to save lives during the Covid-19 pandemic," she told TV3 Malaysia Hari Ini programme aired today.
Aiza who is also the MySJ Sdn Bhd acting chief executive officer stressed that the use of the MySejahtera application is based on the Health Ministry's Digital Health Strategies.
"It was also discussed that if there is a need for other industry players (to take over), we must oblige … but for now we want to help Malaysians."
Aiza said there were currently 29 million active MySejahtera users and 47 million downloads based on MySJ statistics.
"The use of the application is not just about tracing close contacts; I think it became a concern among users because it was like 'Big Brother was watching' them because of the MySJ Trace function.
"But people must be aware that Covid-19 has not gone away, it is still happening. For example, several London flights had to be rescheduled because the ground staff was found positive.
"As a MySejahtera user myself even though my data is in there, the transition to endemicity from pandemic must be in stages as we still need the application to save lives.
"Now even our borders are opened and our vaccine certification has been recognised by the European Union.
On the possibility of a data breach or abuse, Aiza reminded the country has a Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) 2010.
"The important part is to address the concerns and complaints of the
people, there are others who are trying to sensationalise this but we
need to be aware of the existence of the PDPA.- NST, 7/4/2022
"The government, Health Ministry and its Minister Khairy Jamaluddin
even addressed this and provided a detailed explanation where the data
is only for pandemic management and there is no need to be worried," she
said. - NST, 7/4/2022
Suit filed to remove two directors of MySejahtera operator
PETALING JAYA: A boardroom tussle has developed among companies involved in developing and operating the MySejahtera contact tracing programme.
A suit has been filed by Hasrat Budi Sdn Bhd, a shareholder in MySJ Sdn Bhd, which operates the MySejahtera app, seeking the removal of two MySJ directors, Shahril Shamsuddin and Anuar Rozhan.The suit also seeks to have Raveenderen Ramamoothie and a representative from Hasrat Budi to be appointed to the board.
Watch the video here.
Raveenderen is chief executive of Singapore-based Entomo Pte Ltd, which owns Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd, previously known as KPISoft Sdn Bhd, which had developed the MySejahtera app.
Hasrat Budi also sought to have meetings of MySJ in February to be declared invalid on the grounds that Hasrat Budi had bought a 10% stake in MySJ and had the right to buy another 10%, according to a share-sale agreement.
Hasrat Budi alleged that Raveenderen, Anuar, Entomo Malaysia and
another company, Revolusi Asia, had conducted themselves “in a manner
contrary to a mutual understanding” between them, in relation to board
changes in December. - FMT, 4/4/2022
No comments:
Post a Comment