KUALA LUMPUR (March 29): Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for a comprehensive investigation by Parliament on the issue of the ownership of the MySejahtera application and its data.

“I am calling for a comprehensive investigation by Parliament to uncover what is happening with MySejahtera and its data and to ensure that the interests of Malaysians with respect to the sensitive data captured by MySejahtera are protected from greedy and unscrupulous actors seeking to make a profit from our data,” he said in a statement.

Anwar said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s statement reveals that contract negotiations with Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly known as KPISoft Malaysia Bhd), the company that built the MySejahtera application, began only after he assumed his role as Minister in August 2021, which is 16 months after MySejahtera was launched. 

“This suggests that for 16 months, there were no agreements between the government and KPISoft/Entomo governing the ownership and use of the application and its data.

“Until today, the question of ownership of the MySejahtera application and its data remains unclear, despite unconvincing claims made by the Minister of Health,” he added.

Citing the Companies Commission of Malaysia, the PKR president said KPISoft/Entomo appears to be 100% owned by Singapore entity Entomo Pte Ltd.

“I am concerned that the government of Malaysia engaged a foreign owned entity without a contract and under the pretext of CSR, to build and manage a software application which collects sensitive, private data on virtually all inhabitants of Malaysia,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) called on Parliament to convene a special session for Khairy to provide a full and satisfactory explanation on the matter, and for MPs to debate what actionable next steps can be taken to provide redress to this issue.

In a statement, C4 Center also said that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission should investigate and uncover any possible corruption and breach of law that led to the decision by Cabinet ministers.

C4 Center added that the government must provide a resolution to the following issues:

• Why has the government decided to privatise a mandated public health service?
• What were the selection criteria for the procurement of MySejahtera, and why was it not made public through an open tender?
• Why was MySJ Sdn Bhd selected despite a known political figure sitting on the board of directors that should have immediately raised conflict of interest concerns?
• How is the Ministry of Health going to ensure that the personal data of millions of Malaysians will be protected?

This comes amidst reports on Monday (March 28) that MySJ’s shareholder P2 Asset Management Sdn Bhd is suing Entomo Malaysia, Revolusi Asia Sdn Bhd (a MySJ shareholder) and MySJ for an alleged breach of share sale agreement.

According to P2 Asset Management’s statement of claim, MySJ had entered into the licence agreement with Entomo Malaysia on Oct 6, 2020, which stated that MySJ would pay RM338.6 million in aggregate fees for the transfer of the Covid-19 contact tracing application’s intellectual property and software licence to MySJ until the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that Khairy is scheduled to explain in detail the questions surrounding the MySJ issue in the Dewan Negara on Thursday (March 30), after requesting the Senate president Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim to allow a motion to be debated.

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