KUCHING, March 29: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii has called on the federal government to phase out the need for the public to “check-in” via MySejahtera as the nation approaches the endemic phase of Covid-19.
He said the main purpose for the “check-in” feature was for contact tracing and it was important then, when the strategy was containment and even mitigation.
“However now with the SOPs (standard operating procedures) being changed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) where quarantine is no more needed for close contacts and testing strategy is only for the symptomatic, the ‘check-in’ function has little epidemiological value.
“So, while privacy may be one argument against the need for continuous surveillance, but the main issue is the epidemiological value it adds especially when it comes to protocols during endemicity,” he said in a statement today.
Dr Yii also highlighted that millions of Malaysians rigorously obliged with the government’s directive to “check-in” with via MySejahtera and many were even fined thousands of ringgit for not doing so, but he questioned how many cases were actually detected and the public notified of through the contact tracing feature under MySejahtera.
He therefore questioned the effectiveness of this function and urged the government to clarify the statistics and percentage of cases detected through the MySejahtera contact-tracing mechanism.
“With this, it also helps address some of the concerns the public may have when it comes to data privacy and data ownership as such ‘check-in’ or ‘surveillance’ data are no more inputted into the app.
“With that said, the government must clarify all the concerns being raised and allow all these MySejahtera deals to be investigated through an independent commission to ensure the strictest governance and accountability threshold are applied especially when dealing with such vast amounts of highly sensitive personal data,” he added.
At the same time, Dr Yii also acknowledged the app still has a role to play in the future especially when it comes to pandemic management.
He suggested the app to be converted into a “Green Pass System” where only those individuals whose status is ‘green’ on MySejahtera, will be permitted to carry out allowed activities as stipulated by the government especially when it comes to travel, quarantine duration or proving the validity of Covid-19 test results in order to gain entry to certain venues as stipulated by the government.
“So, all we need to do is flash it to authorities at any entry point to enter rather than scan QR codes.
“If needed, the authorities can scan our QR code at random to verify the authenticity of our vaccination certificate or even test result from time to time for monitoring and enforcement activities,” he elaborated. — DayakDaily
