Malaysia needs better data protection to protect its food supply too: PM’s adviser

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11, 2020, Malay Mail. Tun Daim Zainuddin called for Malaysia to step up its data protection to safeguard the country from potential foreign threats to its food supply. The former finance minister and adviser to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said protection of data is vital to protect domestic businesses and ensure global competitiveness, noting that other countries have taken efforts or were working towards this goal, Malay Mail reported.

“Some data points related to agriculture are issues of national security, for instance in protecting our nation against threats of bioterrorism, climate change and food scarcity. The data is therefore highly sensitive and must be treated as such,” he wrote in his column published in local financial paper, The Edge today.

He cited several examples of data protection initiatives by other governments, including the European Union which implemented the General Data Protection Regulation in May 2018 to govern data protection and privacy for all European citizens and impacting any business offering services to users in the region.

“In May last year Thailand came up with its own version, the Personal Data Protection Act, which means that if we wish to access that market, we will need to enhance our data protection practices as well,” Daim said.