Padu database will not change personal data ownership, says Rafizi
Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli today said any sharing of data integrated within the soon-to-be-launched Central Data Base (Padu) will be facilitated by agreements between all relevant agencies.
Speaking to reporters after an editor's briefing at the ministry in Putrajaya, Rafizi said ownership of an individual's data also remains regulated by the law governing each agency or department.
"The data owners are...
Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli today said any sharing of data integrated within the soon-to-be-launched Central Data Base (Padu) will be facilitated by agreements between all relevant agencies.
Speaking to reporters after an editor's briefing at the ministry in Putrajaya, Rafizi said ownership of an individual's data also remains regulated by the law governing each agency or department.
"The data owners are the respective government agencies authorised under the respective laws.
"In the past, that was why we could not integrate the data, because each agency will say its Act states that it owned the data that cannot be shared," he said.
"With Padu, that ownership doesn't change. Data ownership is still governed by the Acts of the respective government departments or agencies.
"What we do is, in the meantime, we have a data-sharing agreement between agencies," he explained.
However, he reassured this would not include any banking data regulated by the Financial Services Act.
Under existing regulations, Rafizi said a minister or director-general can be authorised to share specific data. Still, the government is working towards drafting an "omnibus law" that connects all the separate Acts.
He said close to 300 agencies and departments will contribute data to the central database accessible online from Jan 2 next year, and open for personal verification for three months.
"How do we handle the data is already regulated by the Acts. Even though all agencies are contributing data to Padu, not all agencies can access all data.
"How to share data between agencies will be decided by the government based on the used case, and the first is only for purposes of targeted subsidy," he said.
"There is no question about this data being shared with any party because it is against the law," he stressed.
He also said more data will eventually be integrated into the system that is developed, owned and maintained by the Department of Statistics Malaysia for RM2 million, primarily to come up with the most accurate household profiles for the distribution of targeted subsidies.
