KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 – Khairy Jamaluddin today urged Malaysians to continue using MySejahtera, even as he acknowledged public doubt about the ownership of the mobile Covid-19 app and personal data collected on it.
The health minister, however, modified his language about what exactly the government owns related to MySejahtera, saying today that the Ministry of Health (MOH) owns the “data”, the app’s “modules”, and the “brand”.
At the Dewan Negara last Thursday, Khairy had said that MOH owns not only individuals’ personal data collected on MySejahtera, but also the app itself, its modules, intellectual property (IP), source code, and trademark.
“Please accept that we are still using the MySejahtera system. You may have some concerns about my explanation. What I explained in the Dewan Negara and [later at] the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) is the actual situation – that this is data owned by MOH,” Khairy told reporters at Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital in Ipoh, Perak.
“The data is secure, it’s hosted on a server in Malaysia, and it’s owned by MOH. Whatever happens in terms of court disputes between two companies, that’s nothing to do with us.
“As far as we’re concerned, we own the data and we own the modules in MySejahtera, as well as the brand.”
Khairy said he testified at the Senate and that he’ll attend the PAC’s hearing on April 14 in the parliament committee’s investigation on the procurement and development of MySejahtera.
When a reporter noted that “there is so much distrust” about MySejahtera, Khairy said he understood public concerns and pointed out that this was the reason why he went to the Dewan Negara and why he will attend PAC’s hearing later on the issue.
“I go because I want to give confidence to the public that I have nothing to hide. To me, this app is important. We use it for Covid-19, vaccination, and to monitor people [with Covid-19] at home.”
CodeBlue reported yesterday court documents from MySJ Sdn Bhd shareholder Hasrat Budi Sdn Bhd’s lawsuit filed last February 24 that described MySJ as the owner of the MySejahtera app, its IP rights, and the platform through which the app operates.
Minutes of MySJ’s coordinating committee meetings, notice of the agenda of MySJ’s first board meeting last February 22 (which was adjourned due to lack of quorum), as well as a share sale agreement and a shareholders’ agreement signed last August 27, 2021, also revealed MySJ’s plans to become a tech company with potential for listing in the near future as the owner of the MySejahtera app, besides plans to acquire health care companies and to contract Maybank for a digital payment channel on MySejahtera.
This second court case involving MySJ – initiated by Hasrat Budi against Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly KPISoft Sdn Bhd) that developed the MySejahtera app; another MySJ shareholder, Revolusi Asia Sdn Bhd; three MySJ directors, and MySJ itself – is a dispute over the composition of MySJ’s board. Hearing of Hasrat Budi’s originating summons at the High Court here is scheduled on June 9.
