‘Personal data will be untouched’
Minister assures public on info collection move
BANGI: Protected personal and sensitive national security data are excluded from the data collection exercise to be carried out by the National Statistics Department.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan gave this assurance following the Cabinet’s recent approval to empower the department to collect data from all government departments and agencies.
“The approval by the Cabinet will allow the department to collect raw data from various departments and agencies so that the country will not be left out in the big data revolution,” he said after launching the national MyStats Day 2017 celebration at Pusat Permata Pintar Negara.
He said the data collected would be analysed for public consumption.
“This is important as we must base our decisions not on sentiments but on facts derived from actual statistics.
“Eventually, the data, which is made public, could be used for the creation of mobile apps that could help the people make better choices and decisions,” he added.
Abdul Rahman said the Cabinet approved Oct 20 as National Statistics Day.
He said the theme “Better Data: Better Lives” was apt as statistics could be used as a yardstick for a better life.
In his speech earlier, Abdul Rahman reminded lawmakers to back their arguments with statistics when debating in Parliament and at state legislative assemblies.
“There are those who call for the abolition of the Goods and Services Tax but do not support their arguments with data but mere rhetoric,” he said.
We must base our decisions not on sentiments but on facts derived from actual statistics.
Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan