BORACAY (Philippines), Feb 9 – Malaysia wants to develop a sustainable Digital Economy (DE) ecosystem and hence, the importance of data protection and cybersecurity cannot be seen lightly.
Ministry of Communications and Digital’s secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Mentek said a lot of work has to be invested, such as infrastructure and connectivity especially after DE took a centre stage following the advent of COVID-19, making this issue more pressing than ever.
Speaking to Bernama on the sidelines of the 3rd ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting (ADGMIN), Mohammad said Malaysia’s focus on cybersecurity and data protection during the meeting was also shared with other ASEAN member states.
“At this time most ASEAN countries took this opportunity to take stock of the situation. There are important measures being discussed in the relevant ASEAN working groups to ensure data protection and cybersecurity are paid attention to,” he said.
In relation to this, Mohammad said scamming also took centre stage in the discussions with the senior leaders and ministers.
“As scamming seems to be a global phenomenon, people are being scammed as we speak.
“Scamming is also a cross-border problem as one can scam or be scammed from any part of the world,” he said.
However, the issue will not be reflected in the Joint Media Statement tomorrow as it has been cleared much earlier in the respective capitals.
It will, however, be reflected in the reports and taken up as an agenda in the next working group meeting and the leaders’ retreat.
