Latest news with #DerekFernandez
New Straits Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Duta Enclave: Legal expert raises concern about constitutional safeguards
KUALA LUMPUR: A legal expert has largely welcomed the Court of Appeal's decision in the Duta Enclave case but says it also raises concerns about constitutional safeguards and the limits of property rights enforcement. Lawyer and expert in local government and planning laws Derek Fernandez said if a compulsory acquisition was flawed, then it should follow that legal ownership could not pass and losses should "lie where they fall". He said allowing the ownership would go against the Constitution, which guaranteed that no one should lose their property without fair compensation and only if the law was properly followed. "If land acquisition laws as in this case provide a mandatory procedure, then it must be followed; if not huge abuses can take place. "Even now there are complaints where land acquisition laws are being wrongly used to force acquisition of private properties." He said the case should not be used as a precedent and should be restricted to its special facts. "These considerations would be the serious public inconvenience and harm that will follow if public and government facilities are now privately owned due to the transfer of ownership. "However, these cases must be very, very rare. The facts of this case and its great delay may suggest it is such a case, but I am sure the Federal Court will determine whether this is to be the law." He said there was no need to amend the Land Acquisition Act to prevent this situation. What needs to be changed, he said, was the way the act was implemented by administrators, who must be made to understand what constitutional rights are. Property lawyer Syazwan Jafri said the Duta Enclave case highlighted a serious gap between legal rights and enforceable remedies. "This means that even when the government is found to be in the wrong, landowners are limited to monetary compensation."
The Star
18-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
MCMC: Telcos have more data
PETALING JAYA: Mobile phone data collected by the government is far less than what big tech companies already have, says a Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) commissioner, amid continued concerns over the initiative. MCMC commissioner Derek Fernandez said the data collected by the Mobile Phone Data (MPD) programme is anonymised and does not contain any personal information. 'The data we request does not include names, addresses, IC numbers or phone numbers. It's only general data. 'Big tech companies already have more personal data. They know where you are, what you're buying. Isn't that a bigger concern?' he said, addressing critics of the initiative who fear the data could be misused. Fernandez said the MPD initiative is grounded under International Telecommunications Union practices, a UN agency for information and communication technologies. (Click To Enlarge) 'The most important thing is that we tell the telcos not to send us personal identification. Only the Statistics Department will have access to the anonymised data for analysis and policymaking. 'For example, if I want to know how many people like going to a certain place on a Friday, I can either choose to sit there and count, or check mobile phone usage. 'We don't have granular data on the exact location of the device, only the cell tower it is connected to,' Fernandez added. At a media briefing on June 9, MCMC deputy managing director Datuk Zurkarnain Mohd Yasin said all mobile network operators have agreed to comply with the MFD. He also said the Statistics Department will process and analyse the data for publication. The collected data will be stored at a MCMC premise for three years, while the project, which is in the pilot phase, will continue until 2026. Telcos have since reaffirmed their commitment to protecting customer data and privacy as the exercise is carried out. MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong also proposed that the government address possible pitfalls with the exercise.
