Malaysia scored miserably in the international ranking on privacy for 2007 mainly due to the continued use of the Internal Security Act which allows for police search and seizure of evidence without a warrant, the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) and the use of biometrics to monitor immigrants in an environment where privacy laws and data protection do not exist.
Malaysia’s poor record in privacy protection was said to be because of the absence of right to privacy in the constitution and other laws. Instead, there is interception authorised by the attorney general, the use of identification schemes (Mykad and the biometric), and the installation of CCTVs with no privacy safeguards. The report also said there is a “plan to implement a citizen data hub across government departments to keep information on individuals’ backgrounds, education, and health records.”
The Mykad has the capacity of holding personal details and banking information and private mobile numbers are easily obtained by sales people of any service or product without prior approval of the individual. Loan applicants are subject to a credit worthiness check supplied by a private company that could potentially blacklist individuals, also without their knowledge
On the one hand, individual information is not protected and can be use virtually by anyone for any purpose, but the authorities protect public interest information such as development deals, concessionaire agreements and consultancy agreements secret under the Official Secrets Act,
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