With 10% enrolment, public scepticism a major hurdle for Padu
Published on: Monday, February 19, 2024
By:
FMT, Sankita Jayanandan
Third World Network’s Lim Chee Han said urban dwellers are slow to register with Padu as registration is not compulsory.
PETALING JAYA: With just over 10% of Malaysians registered with the Central Database Hub (Padu) since its launch on Jan 2, an expert says the government’s biggest hurdle is dealing with public scepticism.
Lim Chee Han, a policy researcher for the non-profit Third World Network, said the low number of registrants was not due to a lack of information on Padu but the challenge of persuading people to sign up.
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Despite the efforts of ministers and the media to spread the message on Padu and its primary goal, which is to help the government deliver targeted subsidies, Lim said people are still sceptical about the initiative.
“Some claim the government already possesses their information from over 400 participating government agencies and ministries, So they question the necessity of re-entering their data for most categories,” Lim told FMT.
He said take-up is low even in urban areas because registration is not compulsory. There are no incentives for people who know they are not eligible to receive targeted subsidies.
“This (lack of enthusiasm) is prevalent among individuals in the T20 income group and some M40s,” he added.
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Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim launched Padu on Jan 2, encouraging Malaysians to register, verify their particulars and furnish their most current socioeconomic data.
Padu automatically lists Malaysians in its database based on data from various government agencies. However, the government has set a deadline of March 31 for citizens to register and update their information on Padu.
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According to the statistics department, only 3.08 million of the 30.08 million Malaysians automatically registered by their system have signed up and verified their details on Padu as of Feb 13.
Last week, chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the highest registrations were recorded in Sarawak, Selangor, Johor, Perlis and Kelantan.
Lim said Padu remains a hurdle for people with low technology proficiency, especially senior citizens, particularly when it comes to its Electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) process.
He also said any attempt to manually update the personal details of Malaysians in rural areas or interiors on an ongoing basis would be inefficient and unsustainable.
“There is always a limit to how far and how often the authorities can go to people for such manual updates,” he said.
Meanwhile, former deputy international trade and industry minister Ong Kian Ming said Putrajaya should not use Padu to deliver targeted subsidies if the number of registrants stays below five million by the March deadline.
Instead, he said the government should continue using existing data banks, including the Bantuan Tunai Rahmah (STR) database maintained by the finance ministry.
“The government must provide some ‘carrots and sticks’ for the public to sign up and must then deploy a ‘whole of government’ approach (by) mobilising all ministries and agencies,” said the former Bangi MP.
He said incentives could include participation in lucky draws and e-wallet benefits, whereas an eligible individual’s loss of targeted subsidies would act as an effective deterrent.
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