Malaysia Parliament Approves Statistics Bill 2026 to Strengthen Data Governance

Malaysia's Dewan Rakyat has passed the Statistics Bill 2026, a significant legislative update aimed at strengthening the nation's data governance and bolstering evidence-based policymaking. This new bill replaces the 1965 Statistics Act, which has served as the legal foundation for national statistics for over six decades.

Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd. Nasir emphasized that the bill is more than a mere renewal of existing law. It is designed to enhance the country's capacity to produce official statistics that are more coordinated, of higher quality, and trustworthy. "Good data must lead to more accurate policies, more effective services, and tangible benefits for the people," he stated during the bill's debate.

The core provisions of the Statistics Bill 2026 include a detailed outline of the Department of Statistics Malaysia's (DOSM) functions, the establishment of a National Statistics Council, and standardized methods for data collection, request, publication, and communication. Crucially, it also addresses data confidentiality protection and grants powers for regulation creation. DOSM will coordinate national official statistics production and serve as the central repository for national data.

Despite these centralizing efforts, the minister clarified that the bill does not usurp the data ownership or domain authority of any ministry or agency. Instead, DOSM's coordination aims to ensure data is used systematically and consistently, leading to higher quality official statistics. The optimized use of administrative data is also expected to reduce duplication in data collection, lessen the burden on respondents, and save costs, time, and resources. Data protection and respondent confidentiality remain paramount, with information gathered for statistical purposes protected by law.