KUALA LUMPUR: The Communications and Multimedia Ministry has called for an investigation into a project called Asean Data Analytics Exchange (ADAX) under the scope of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC) that aims to develop the ecosystem and build a critical mass of talent pool in the big data analytics category.
Its minister Gobind Singh Deo said the ministry has received numerous questions on the matter, among others, whether or not there was a conflict of interest between the programme managers and training providers.
“A probe is currently being undertaken by MDEC into the matter. I am informed that MDEC has further requested the National Audit Department to conduct an audit, which is also currently underway, on the said project.
“I expect a complete report on the said project to be presented to me soon.
“For now, there is no assumption made that anyone has committed any misconduct nor committed any offence in the matter,” he said in a statement today.
Gobind also reiterates his commitment towards ensuring transparency and integrity in every departments and agencies under the purview of the ministry.
“If this inquiry reveals any wrongdoing or shortcomings, action will be taken to deal with it and those responsible for it thereafter,” he added.
ADAX, a public-private partnership between Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC) and the Centre of Applied Data Science, enables businesses, governments and professionals to adopt data analytics and empower decision making and innovation.
As one of the five key enablers of the big data analytics ecosystem, MDEC’s target was to nurture 20,000 data professionals, including 2,000 data scientists, under the project by 2020.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are starting to adopt data analytics to innovate their businesses and stay relevant in the market.
It was reported that there had been encouraging response from the SME segment, with 20 per cent of its 2,378 data professionals being SME business owners.