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.
"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.