Expert: Britain took years to get it going

KUALA LUMPUR: The head of a British open data portal believes that Malaysia’s move to become an open data society will be a lengthy affair, but it is feasible.

Antonia Acuna (pic), who heads the British open data portal Data.gov.uk, said Britain was also moving towards the creation of an open data society, which will not only make its citizens better informed, but help the Government and people make better decisions.

He believed that open data could change society, where the Govern­ment can share its information with the public.

“We stop becoming passive receivers of government and start becoming co-protagonists,” he said in an interview.

He gave an example in the police.uk website, which showed how many crimes took place in a London suburb and the progress of the police investigations.

“Another example is how open data helped a man whose daughter was killed in a traffic accident to convince a local authority to make a road junction safer,” he added.

Acuna said Britain’s move to make public its official data began in late 2009.

At the time, he added, the country was facing a political scandal where MPs were found misusing funds.

“Greater transparency was demanded,” he said, adding that national debate pushed for more data to become public.

Today, Data.gov.uk has more than 27,000 datasets with items ranging from environment to government spending.

On Malaysia’s move towards open data, Acuna said it was “saying the right things”.

He said British government departments were once isolated from each other like silos.

Malaysia today faces a similar problem, as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low said on Tuesday.

Acuna said it would take years for Malaysia to change in terms of open data, adding that it took five years for Britain to get to this stage today.

“It’ll be a matter of change internally. To break the silo, that’s going to be the hardest part,” he added.

Asked what Malaysians should do about open data, he said they should demand for it.

“It is their data, it is for them. It is taxpayer’s data. We paid for it. Why shouldn’t I have access to it?” he said.

For more info on Malaysia’s open data, check data.gov.my.