Malaysia Along With China, World's Worst Defenders Of Privacy.
Malaysia on Friday rejected an international rights watchdog's claim that it was among the world's worst defenders of privacy, saying the government doesn't invade people's personal lives without justification.
"There are all sorts of surveys that are being done on all sorts of things,'' Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said. "Before you pass judgment, sometimes you need to be very objective.''
A report released Wednesday by the London-based Privacy International, which tracks surveillance and privacy violations by governments and corporations, ranked China and Malaysia last among 37 nations in privacy protections.
The report studied the reach of governments in using video surveillance in private locations, workplace monitoring and identity protection, among other areas.
Syed Hamid said the surveillance of citizens' personal activities isn't practiced in Malaysia, except perhaps for "certain things that are required for official purposes, for the purposes of ensuring peace, security and stability.''
"The government does not interfere with the private lives of its citizens here,'' Syed Hamid told reporters. "You do not want the government to be nosing into your private life, and the government of this country does not do that.'' (The Star)
**** So we do have something that we are on par with China! It would have been nice if we had achieved parity with them in sports or the economy, but no, it had to be some rubbish like this. But seriously, I was a little surprised by this report. I never really thought of our government as the snooping type that eavesdropped on our conversations and secretly recorded our moves. We simply don't have the mentality of the former commie bastards in China or Russia. Even the openly displayed damned CCTVs don't work properly here most of the time!
I still don't think that we should rank that low, second last! What do you think? Are we a victim of 'western bias and envy' or is there something that most us don't know and the government is not telling?
"There are all sorts of surveys that are being done on all sorts of things,'' Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said. "Before you pass judgment, sometimes you need to be very objective.''
A report released Wednesday by the London-based Privacy International, which tracks surveillance and privacy violations by governments and corporations, ranked China and Malaysia last among 37 nations in privacy protections.
The report studied the reach of governments in using video surveillance in private locations, workplace monitoring and identity protection, among other areas.
Syed Hamid said the surveillance of citizens' personal activities isn't practiced in Malaysia, except perhaps for "certain things that are required for official purposes, for the purposes of ensuring peace, security and stability.''
"The government does not interfere with the private lives of its citizens here,'' Syed Hamid told reporters. "You do not want the government to be nosing into your private life, and the government of this country does not do that.'' (The Star)
**** So we do have something that we are on par with China! It would have been nice if we had achieved parity with them in sports or the economy, but no, it had to be some rubbish like this. But seriously, I was a little surprised by this report. I never really thought of our government as the snooping type that eavesdropped on our conversations and secretly recorded our moves. We simply don't have the mentality of the former commie bastards in China or Russia. Even the openly displayed damned CCTVs don't work properly here most of the time!
I still don't think that we should rank that low, second last! What do you think? Are we a victim of 'western bias and envy' or is there something that most us don't know and the government is not telling?
posted by The Malaysian. at 11/03/2006 04:31:00 PM
3 Comments:
I first heard about this "privacy survey" yesterday on BBC World Service (ahh... the wonders of being in JB).
Of course, they're mostly discussing how poorly the UK ranks in the survey (at 1.5 on the index).
To me, the survey isn't really a fair indicator of privacy. Take the example of the IC. For us, it's a perfectly normal document to have. All Malaysian citizen, be they paupers or ministers, will have an IC. In the UK and US though, such documents are frowned upon as an invasion of privacy.
The good thing about ICs to me though, is that it provides a universally accepted form of identification.
Communications data retention is Malaysia's strongest ranking in the survey. However, I think that will definitely change next year due to the recent prepaid mobile phone registration directive.
Additionally, you should have included a link to the findings.
You're absolutely right Azmeen, both on the subject of our IC as well as the prepaid phone registration directive. The former perhaps contributed to our poor showing while the latter might make it worse next year! As for the link, mea culpa.
As usual foreigners mistake the appearance for the reality in Malaysia.
We may have the appearance of a highly policed state but in reality the authorities are too clueless to use the tools available to them. Thank the Gods for the Malaysian tidak apa attitude. Look at how even with easy access to a standard identifier (IC No) our Govt can't keep track of simple things like unpaid taxes, scholarships,quit rent, traffic summonses, expenditure beyond one's known wealth, etc etc.
Contrast this to Singapore where the Govt has the laws & the means to keep track of citizens. Now that is a scary little utopia. How this survey can rank us below Singapore is mind boggling.
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