PAS has joined the chorus by echoing the call by former Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming for a temporary suspension of the PADU central database hub registration until its security flaws are fixed.
Such concern is justified because PADU has access to data from 445 public sector institutions nationwide, including ministries, Federal and state statutory bodies and local authorities, according to the party’s Jerantut MP Khairil Nizam Khirudin.
“With the available data, PADU will be the most powerful government agency,” he pointed out on his Facebook page. “A day after its launch On Tuesday (Jan 2), various responses were received pertaining especially to API (Application Programming Interface) weaknesses and concerns over its cybersecurity aspect.”
In this regard, Khairil listed out eight key questions surrounding PADU that need to be answered (according to Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli, PADU was fully developed by civil servants from his ministry, Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) and the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) in collaboration with all other agencies):
- Which act supports PADU?
- What are government policies that support PADU?
- What are the guidelines that support PADU?
- Can PADU be shared with the private sector?
- What are the methods used to overcome the single point of failure problem when using a centralised database?
- What are the cybersecurity techniques used in the PADU system?
- What is the jurisdiction of the chief government security officer (CGSO) as enshrined in PADU?
- What is the government’s guarantee that data furnished by the people is accurate or will not overlap with existing data from other related agencies, ie examples of side income from other sources?
“When this implementation is done entirely by civil servants, the security of personal data should be the main agenda of the minister (Rafizi). This is also related to governance,” asserted Khairil who is also PAS’ consumer and consumerism affairs council chairman.
“If these vital loopholes and other teething problems are resolved, then God willing there will be no problem for PADU to be accepted and welcomed by all.” – Jan 4, 2024
