Open data is data that can be freely used, shared and reused by citizens, Government agencies and private individuals for various purposes. It acts as a driving force in the government's people-centered initiatives. The Government's open data implementation can increase the transparency of Government service delivery through accurate, fast and relevant data sharing while increasing the productivity of the country's digital economy through new industries or innovations with the involvement of citizens and the business community. It also puts Malaysia on par with other countries in the Digital Government initiative.

What are the Objectives of Open Data?
The objectives of public sector open data implementation are as follows:

• Enable open data to be shared more widely and improve the transparency of Government services;
• Giving opportunities to the people and the business community to increase creativity and innovation in the creation of new products;
• Providing a platform for the people to obtain information from official Government sources and as a channel to get feedback from the people;
• Saving time for access to open data datasets by the people; and
• Save the development cost of Government agency applications.

The Public Sector Open Data Portal is a one-service-centre for citizens to access and download Government open data datasets online managed by the Malaysian Administration Modernization and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU).

The Defense Science and Technology Research Institute (STRIDE) is one of the Government agencies from the Ministry of Defense that also share research, development and testing datasets in this portal.

The Open Data Reference Portal can be accessed via  http://www.data.gov.my/