MPs concerned over privacy of hotel guests

The budget hotel and online booking platform operator reached the valuation having secured $180 million from U.S. peer Booking Holdings Inc and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd, Yanolja confirmed on Tuesday. (A couple looks at South Korea's accommodation-booking app on a mobile phone during a photo opportunity in Seoul, South Korea. Filepic)

SEVERAL Barisan Nasional lawmakers expressed concern over how the privacy of hotel guests can be improved after security video recordings of a man resembling a politician was leaked to the public.

The MPs want privacy protection to be improved for hotel guests during the debate on the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill 2019.

“We do not want a situation where only those appearing in the video recording are investigated.

“How about investigating the hotel itself?” asked Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (BN-Arau) when debating the Bill.

He said the government should introduce a new regulation requiring hotels to provide hidden camera detectors.

“I hope that the minister in replying (the debates) will ensure that the government will take action to prevent such incidents from becoming widespread,” said Shahidan, adding that if such incidents were allowed to occur, the personal information of guests might be leaked out.

“What if the images of your wives appear (in the video recordings),” said Shahidan, drawing laughter from the MPs.

Tan Sri Noh Omar (BN-Tanjung Karang) also expressed his worry that recordings and images of hotel guests could be spread to the public.

“Videoclips and images can be released when we stay in a hotel,” he said.

He asked whether hotel guests had a right to request the hotel management to check whether their rooms were free of hidden cameras.

Several Barisan Nasional lawmakers voiced their support for such a move.

Several video recordings and images of two men in a sexual encounter had surfaced on social media last month.

Former Santubong PKR Youth chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz came forward to claim that he was one of those in the recording made at a hotel room in Sandakan.

He alleged the recording was of his sexual encounter with Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, who has since denied the allegations as a “nefarious” plot to destroy his political career.

Several police reports were lodged over the video with police investigations still ongoing.