pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

A TOTAL of 1.38 million dubious registrations of prepaid lines was detected in the country as of October 2020.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah (picture) said of the total, 920,217 lines had been terminated, while 457,645 lines have been updated with valid details.

“In terms of industry regulation, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission have conducted data verification audits with the National Registration Department to verify the integrity of the customers for prepaid lines to ensure all active numbers are properly verified.

“This is to avoid it from being misused by irresponsible parties for scam purposes and those related to it,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Responding to a question from Datuk Mohamad Alamin (Barisan Nasional-Kimanis) on the government’s effort to enhance cyber security following the “Macau Scam”, Saifuddin said the government had launched the Malaysia Cyber Security Strategy 2020 to 2024 (MCSS) last month.

MCSS is hosted by the National Cyber Security Agency and RM1.8 billion has been allocated for the initiatives under the strategy.

The “Macau Scam” is a telecommunication fraud done by syndicates who originally hailed from Taiwan and China.

The scam reached Malaysia a few years ago and news reports of individuals losing up to millions of ringgit made headlines in the country recently.

Separately, Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said the government has no plans to introduce a National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme for all citizens.

In a response to a question from Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew (Pakatan Harapan-Wangsa Maju), Abdul Rahim said Malaysia is among the countries that can provide free medical services to the public.

“It is something that we should be proud of. The allocation provided for health services in the country is about RM30.6 billion a year,” he said.

He also highlighted several initiatives introduced by the government to improve health benefits for the public such as the MySalam scheme which provides takaful protection to Bantuan Sara Hidup recipients aged 18 to 65 for 45 critical illnesses.

The government had also introduced the PeKa B40 scheme which includes automatic financial assistance to those in the bottom 40% (B40) income group aged 40 and above.

The assistance is in the form of medical appliances with a limit of RM20,000.

He added that the government must be cautious in considering proposals relating to NHI to ensure the implementation would not burden the people.

“There were some mistakes done by developed nations that had implemented the NHI which led to a higher cost for health services.

“We have to ensure the government can view the options more thoroughly because we have to make sure the public receives a wide range of services,” he added.