Malaysia has introduced OpenDOSM NextGen – a platform that provides a catalogue of data and visualisations for users to analyse various types of data – to the global statistical communities during the 54th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC), which was held from Feb 26 to March 3.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) led by its Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin represented Malaysia at the UNSC, an apex entity of the global statistical system which met once a year to advance official statistical data and information.
A total of 32 agenda items with 43 supporting documents were discussed and finalised at the UNSC.
“Malaysia’s full engagement and contribution continued during the session, with the submission of 29 written national statements and the delivery of seven oral statements,” said DOSM in a statement today.
DOSM said Malaysia highlighted to the commission the importance of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Big Data and Data Science, Economic Statistics, Social Statistics, National Accounts, Regional statistical development and Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, and recent DOSM initiatives to improve the statistics above.
DOSM said Malaysia also expressed support for the establishment of a new Friends of the Chair group on social and demographic statistics to work together on generating initiatives and methods to strengthen the role of social statistics for the 2030 Agenda and beyond.
“To balance relevance to national policymaking and promote international comparability across nations, Malaysia also commits to identifying the indicators and subjects for disaggregation applicable in all countries,” it said.
Aside from the main sessions, DOSM said Malaysia also discussed the most recent developments and shared its perspective as a member of expert groups at several meetings.
They include the International Comparison Programme (ICP) Governing Board, Bureau Members of the ESCAP Committee on Statistics, OIC Statistical Commission (OIC StatCom), UN Committee of Experts on Big Data and Data Science of Official Statistics Open House on Big Data and Data Science, and Multidimensional Poverty Data: Post- Pandemic.
At the side event of UNSC “Beyond Open Data: Harnessing Openness for Use and Impact”, DOSM said Malaysia shared its efforts to create a scholarly society by accessing social, economic and environmental information in one platform.
“This is to encourage people to make evidence-based decisions to secure sustained economic growth, a healthy environment and inclusive social development,” it said.
Mohd Uzir in the statement said Malaysia, through DOSM, has exhaustively transformed the statistical operation by adopting digitalisation such as online data collection, big data analytics, and data communication through dashboards and open data platforms.
“Modernising official statistics through digitalisation as well as leveraging administrative data sources is essential for the national statistical office to remain relevant in fulfilling the growing demands for high-quality, granular, and real-time data,” he said.
UNSC is made up of approximately 193 UN member countries and international organisations.
It significantly impacts the development of national statistics systems where statistical standards, guidelines, classifications, methodologies, techniques and concepts are created, debated, and accepted for use at the national and international levels.
