KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — A total of 5,692,196 million individuals have registered and updated their information on the Central Database Hub (Padu) since its launch till March 18, Economic Affairs Minister Rafizi Ramli said.

With only two weeks remaining till registration closes on March 31, the government is intensifying registration efforts through various promotion programmes, he added.

"Efforts will be redoubled to ensure more Malaysians register and update their information to ensure no one is left behind in receiving government aid,” he said in reply to Senator Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof, who sought an update on Padu’s developments and registration numbers, during a question-answer session at the Dewan Negara today.

Inclusion and exclusion errors can be reduced when data is updated and verified by individuals before any decision or qualifiers are implemented under the Padu system, he said.

He also answered a supplementary question from Mujahid, who asked why the government did not use existing data obtained through e-Kasih or the Rahmah Cash Aid programme, stating that every department was governed by their respective Acts that did not allow the sharing of data.

"For now, we use an inter-department information sharing agreement while we wait for an omnibus Act enabling the sharing of data with all government agencies to be tabled by the Digital Ministry in Parliament this year,” he answered. — Bernama