KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 – Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will open an investigation into the development and procurement of the MySejahtera app in mid-April.
The committee will summon the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Ministry of Health (MOH), and the Prime Minister’s Department for the proceeding, said PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh in a statement today.
The first two key witnesses to appear before the PAC will be Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. The date and time of the proceedings will be fixed and announced soon.
“The PAC is of the view that the issue regarding the development and procurement of the MySejahtera application should be explained transparently before this committee as a non-partisan committee in the interest of the people and the country, especially the appointment of a private company as the operator of MySejahtera application through direct negotiations and costs involved,” Wong said.
“Furthermore, it involves issues regarding the security of the people’s personal data, thus preventing irresponsible parties from taking advantage of the people’s personal information.”
Wong said on September 21, 2021, through a reply in the Dewan Rakyat, the government stated that MySejahtera started as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project, with the CSR period ending after one year on March 31, 2021. The government then decided to make payments for the use of the Covid-19 app from April 1, 2021.
Issues involving MySejahtera are included in the PAC’s Covid-19 Vaccine Procurement report tabled in Parliament on December 1, 2021. At the time, the PAC concluded that the CSR concept was used as a mechanism to procure government projects without going through proper procurement procedures.
The PAC also recommended the government not to pay for the use of the MySejahtera app as its development is CSR in nature. The government was urged to take over the operation of the MySejahtera app without incurring any additional costs as it has become part of the national health system.
On March 8, 2022, the PAC conducted a proceeding on the follow-up actions by controlling officers on the recommendations made in the December PAC report.
During the proceeding, the PAC was informed, among other things, that the Cabinet had, on November 26, 2021, agreed to give approval to the MOH to appoint MySJ Sdn Bhd via direct negotiations for the purpose of refining the MySejahtera app procurement process.
The PAC was informed that the MOH needed to carry out due diligence on the company to be appointed.
During that meeting, the PAC questioned how “ownership” of the MySejahtera app was transferred from KPISoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd (now Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd) to MySJ.
CodeBlue’s report on March 28, citing court documents from a shareholders’ dispute between MySJ shareholders, revealed that Entomo Malaysia transferred MySejahtera’s intellectual property to MySJ and granted MySJ a software licence to the app for RM338.6 million in a deal until end 2025. However, Entomo Malaysia retains ownership of its proprietary software that was used to develop the MySejahtera app.
The PAC’s follow up report was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on March 24, and this issue has received widespread attention from the people over the past week.
It is therefore appropriate for the PAC to conduct a proceeding on the MySejahtera app in accordance with the authority of PAC under Standing Order 77 (1)(d) of the Rules of the House of Representatives which clearly states “… any other matter deemed by the Committee should be examined … ”, Wong said.
In addition, the PAC will also use its source of authority under Meeting Rule 83 (2) and Article 11 (b) of General Circular No. 2 of 1982 in handling these proceedings.
