Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says a sovereign cloud will protect Malaysia’s security and personal data while keeping the country open to global digital investments.
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia needs to set up a sovereign cloud to safeguard critical security and personal data while remaining open to global digital investments as Southeast Asia becomes increasingly dependent on critical digital technologies and infrastructure.
Responding to a question on how Malaysia and Southeast Asian countries could exercise agency in an increasingly interconnected digital landscape, he said the sovereign cloud would enable Malaysia to protect sensitive information while continuing to embrace openness in a globalised world.
“The Cloud Act has created some issues because President Trump has said that companies established in the United States (US) have the right to penetrate and get all the data from countries where they invest.
“Fair, it is their decision, nothing can be done. But for us to protect our interests, then we must establish, for critical security and personal data, a sovereign cloud,” he said during a question-and-answer session at the 39th Asia-Pacific Roundtable here today.
Anwar said the sovereign cloud would have firewalls to protect critical security and personal information while acknowledging there were limits to such protection in an increasingly globalised world.
“That, to my mind, is the ingenious way to protect our people and our interests. At the same time, we must accept the fact that, in a globalised world, there are limits to such protection because, as a free, democratic country, we have some open access,” he added.
He said while openness and the free exchange of information were important, they also brought challenges arising from the abuse of social media and digital platforms.
Anwar said such abuses could take political, economic, personal or sexual forms, stressing the need for government to put in place legitimate safeguards to protect Malaysians, particularly young people, from such exposure.
The Prime Minister said Malaysia remained attractive to investments from the US, China and Germany, adding that ASEAN centrality was critical not only in foreign policy but also in ensuring the country remained attractive to investors and was regarded as a friend to all.
On Malaysia’s role as a middle power, Anwar said Malaysia’s strength as a small nation lay not only in its own potential but also in ASEAN’s collective strength.
“I do not portray ourselves as a great power. We are a small country. That is why we engage very closely with our neighbours. Our strength lies not only in Malaysia’s potential, but also in ASEAN’s potential,” he said.
Anwar added that Malaysia would continue to engage with all countries that chose to be friendly towards it, while stressing that small countries should evolve together as a region rather than seek middle-power status individually.
