The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) said, currently, the personal data protection department (PDPA) did not publicise its investigations even though there had been cases brought to court and compounds issued.

“The course of the investigation and its outcome are not made public, which impacts the possibility of errors occurring in other parts of the digital ecosystem,” it said.

IDEAS said that while publicising investigations could impact the reputation of the companies involved, it was important so that there would be increased vigilance of such cybersecurity incidents and data breaches.

This recommendation is one of five in its policy report titled “Strengthening the Digital Trade Ecosystem: The Next Frontier for Malaysia”, which was launched with the support of the Australian High Commission in Malaysia on Dec 1.

The policy report focuses on two critical components of the digital trade ecosystem, namely taxing the digital economy and cybersecurity concerns.

In a statement, IDEAS director of research Juita Mohamad, pointed out that one of the biggest concerns in Malaysia was the planning and introduction of new forms of taxes for the digital economy and trade activities.

IDEAS called for greater transparency in the introduction of new forms of taxes for the digital trade and economy, including impact assessments to take into account input from stakeholders.

It also suggested more capacity building exercises and training exercises in collaboration with neighbouring countries that had developed a somewhat robust framework for their digital economy or via digital free trade zones.

It also highlighted the importance of developing and standardising efforts for cybersecurity and exploring the use of digital economy agreements (DEAs) as platforms to build conversations on rules and standards.

“When it comes to cybersecurity, we recommend for Malaysia to use DEAs and digital free trade zones to further build a rules-based environment for cyber and digital taxation frameworks and to ensure Malaysia’s national interests are protected and its industries promoted,” said Juita.