KUCHING, April 7: DAP Sarawak holds that Kuching South City Council (MBKS) should answer the questions regarding the QMunity app instead of making what they termed to be “baseless allegations”.
In a statement today, Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak Chief Chong Chieng Jen said MBKS mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng should stop making accusations and skirting the issues surrounding the QMunity app, which was implemented by the council and the Sarawak government.
Chong, who is also Padungan assemblyman, said that Sarawakians are concerned about how much the government has spent on its development and application, what will become of the data collected in the app and who has access to such data.
“As private companies are involved in the development of the Qmunity app, what assurance can the Sarawak government give Sarawakians that there will not be any privacy breach issues?” Chong questioned.
He said five days had passed since he posed these questions to the Sarawak government. He claimed that instead of replying and getting a clarification from the government, Wee had “jumped out to make baseless accusations” against him, alleging that his questions posed to the Sarawak Government was insulting and humiliating.
“There is nothing about ‘insulting, humiliating’ in these questions. On the contrary, these questions concern accountability and transparency about the government spending the people’s money and also the data security of the people of Sarawak,” said Chong.
Chong claimed this has been one of the most “ridiculous claims” made by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) politicians so far.
“Not only did the mayor not address the issue at hand, but he went totally off tangent to launch a personal attack on me.
“Therefore, I urge the mayor to be more focused, mature and responsible to the public on the spending of public funds rather than playing his political stunt. The Qmunity app issue concerns the management of public funds and security of personal data,” said Chong.
Chong had on April 2, demanded the Sarawak government to give an account on data security and privacy of the Qmunity app.
In response, Wee expressed disappointment over Chong’s statement, claiming that the latter had “insulted and humiliated” the efforts and corporate social responsibility (CSR) work of Sarawakian app developers.
Wee stated QMunity was created prior to the now ubiquitous MySejahtera app, and was done with the intention to help Sarawakians.
He said MBKS began using QMunity in its contact tracing efforts within areas and purviews of its jurisdiction, such as the city hall and markets, and that it filled gaps created by a lac of familiarity with the MySejahtera app in the early stages of the pandemic, as well as a dire need for an efficient tracing mechanism. — DayakDaily
