COMMENT | Was govt 'conned' in MySejahtera deal?

COMMENT | How obscure can the entire deal surrounding MySejahtera be that not even high-level officials from the Health Ministry and the Finance Ministry, have the same understanding of what is exactly happening?

Reports on the Public Accounts Commission (PAC) hearing dated March 24, 2022 mentioned that Harjeet Singh, deputy secretary-general (finance) of the Health Ministry, told the PAC that KPISoft Sdn Bhd (KPISoft) changed its name to MYSJ Sdn Bhd (MySJ).

At the same time, we also have Rosni Mohd Yusoff, deputy secretary at the Government Procurement Division from the Finance Ministry, reportedly stating that KPISoft and MYSJ are two different entities.

Through a press statement dated March 27, 2022, the Health Ministry asserts that the government owns MySejahtera, while mentioning nothing about MySJ. However, later on, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin also reportedly pointed out that the negotiations with MySJ would not continue should MySJ disagree that the government owns the app.

Therefore, how can the Health Ministry assert that the government has “decided” that the MySejahtera application is owned by the government, while the ownership could still be in dispute? How can the Health Ministry ignore MySJ’s ability to agree or disagree with this fundamental premise when it released the statement?

If we assume that MySJ has not agreed on the ownership of the app, what is the current fate of MySejahtera’s...