Malaysia suspends ODF approval process

Computerworld - The government of Malaysia, which last year started moving to adopt the OpenDocument Format (ODF) for Office Applications as a nonbinding public standard, has halted the process indefinitely, according to a local newspaper report.

Malaysia's The Star newspaper reported Wednesday that the head of Malaysia's official standards body, Sirim BHD, had "suspended" the approval of the ISO-approved document format because of the political feuding between IBM, the chief commercial backer of ODF, and Microsoft Corp., creator of the competing Open XML standard.

"No time frame has been set to resume the process. I am waiting for everyone to calm down before we do so," said Datuk Dr Mohamad Ariffin Aton, CEO of Sirim, which helps Malaysia's Department of Standards manage standards-setting groups.

According to the Star, ODF remains "stalled" in a technical committee that helps evaluate responses from the public to the proposed adoption of ODF as a Malaysian standard.

Lucrative government contracts are at stake, which is influencing committee members, Ariffin said.

"There has been unprofessional conduct and a lack of ethical standards among some members of the technical committee," he told the Star. Ariffin cited blogs published by certain pro-ODF committee members, as well as their push to have ODF ratified in committee by a two-thirds majority, rather than by a full committee consensus.

At the same time, Ariffin said that even if ODF is eventually approved, it would be a nonbinding endorsement, not a mandatory standard for public or private use. That's because it does not involve public health or safety, and because mandating its use would violate Malaysia's free trade rules, he said.

"Ultimately, it is up to the general public and users in both the public and private sectors to decide which format they want to use," Ariffin said.

According to an article originally published earlier this week in the International Herald Tribune, a close observer to the Malaysian approval process said Sirim would actually prefer a merger between Open XML and ODF to create a single standard rather than two competing ones.

However, that viewpoint was not expressed in early March by Malaysia's representative to ISO's technical committee, when comments and "contradictions" to the Open XML format, which Microsoft is seeking to be approved as an international standard, were published.

Malaysia cited five relatively technical problems it saw with the Open XML proposal. But it did not object to putting Open XML on fast-track approval process.

Later that month, ISO confirmed that Open XML would be put on the five-month approval process, which could see the format join ODF as an international standard as early as August.

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