PUTRAJAYA: Government agencies are bound by their own respective regulations on data and not the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), says Rafizi Ramli.

The Economy Minister also criticised NGO Lawyers for Liberty for proposing the suspension of the Central Database Hub (Padu) until the PDPA is amended.

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“As we speak, there is tonnes of data available in the government databases. If you project the same argument... This means the government cannot proceed with anything that involves data.

“I’m hoping LFL, before issuing statements like that, would have understood what PDPA is and what is publicly available data.

“Each government agency is governed by their own regulations on data... I would have thought that a lawyers group would understand that,” Rafizi said during a press conference at the Economy Ministry in Putrajaya on Thursday (Jan 4).

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Rafizi also hoped that more people would understand that the government takes into account public concerns regarding data security.

“Hacking risks are there in all applications so we have to be fair,” Rafizi added.

On Thursday (Jan 4), LFL said there is a need for an immediate amendment to the PDPA to place responsibility and liability on the government as well as the agencies responsible for the data collected.

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LFL director Zaid Malek said the government should suspend the implementation of Padu until the necessary amendments was done to the PDPA.

In June last year, Rafizi said announced the Omnibus Bill, which is supposed to address the authorisation of data sharing between its ministries and agencies.