Malaysia's travel reopening cheer tainted by controversy over Covid-19 contact-tracing app

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A multilayered ownership controversy over Malaysia ’s Covid-19 tracking application marred what would have been a week to remember for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob ’s government as the country allows quarantine-free travel to all vaccinated travellers. After a trying two years of the health crisis, the reopening has been highly anticipated by citizens and officials alike, with Health Minister...

A tourist scans a QR code to check in upon arriving at the airport amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia September 16, 2021.

Testimony by a government official before a bipartisan public accounts committee revealed there had not been a proper contract agreement between the government and the firm as the app was developed under the backing of the National Security Council rather than the government and the bureaucracy. This transfer will see Entomo Malaysia be paid 338.6 million ringgit for MySejahtera’s intellectual property and software license, according to court documents pertaining to the transaction.

Similarly, Azrul Mohd Khalib, chief executive officer of the Galen Centre for Health & Social Policy, was questioned by police last July for a tweet in which he called out alleged police abuse for using MySejahtera data to track residents at a locale under “enhanced lockdown”. He said most ownership shares in Entomo were held by Malaysians and that its servers were located in Kuala Lumpur – with access granted only to health ministry officials.

 

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