KUALA LUMPUR: The digital ministry will study incorporating provisions on personal data protection in the draft Omnibus bill, which Putrajaya is looking to pass within a year.
Responding to a question from William Leong (PH-Selayang), digital minister Gobind Singh Deo said the ministry was still in the process of setting the main principles in drafting the bill.
“The ministry takes note of the need to protect personal data from being abused by any party while such data is being shared between government agencies.
“Although government agencies are exempted from the Personal Data Protection Act 2010, in the meantime, civil servants are subject to the Official Secrets Act 1972 and civil servant regulations.
“My ministry will study the suitability of provisions involving personal data protection in the draft bill to balance between the importance of data sharing and an individual’s right to the privacy of their data,” Gobind told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Leong had asked if the ministry planned to include such provisions in the Omnibus bill to prevent the abuse of personal data by the government.
The Omnibus Act will allow data sharing and cloud storage among government agencies. Putrajaya has said that this is necessary as its various databases are subject to different acts which do not allow them to share data.
The bill follows the introduction of the Central Database Hub, or Padu, which is aimed at ensuring that government subsidies are properly targeted.
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