CYBERJAYA, June 10 -- On the night of Hari Raya Aidiladha, it was reported that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had directed telecommunications companies (telcos) to hand over mobile personal data (MPD) to the government.

The directive, which reportedly involves mobile call records from the first quarter of this year, was said to be for official statistical purposes.

But how exactly will the data be used - and is your personal information at risk?

Project MPD

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM), under the Economy Ministry, proposed the use of MPD as a new data source for producing official national statistics.

The proposal was presented to the Cabinet on April 19, 2023, and subsequently approved...