KUCHING, March 24 — The Federal Government respects Sarawak’s decision to postpone registration for the Central Database Hub (Padu), Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said.

Fadillah, who is also Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister said however that so far, the Sarawak government has not provided the reasons for the decision.

"As the federal government, we respect what the Sarawak government has decided but we want to understand what are the causes and reasons for the decision to halt Padu registration.

"I’m not sure what the cause is (because) I haven’t received an explanation... there must be a reason why the state government is doing this,” he told reporters when met at the Jamaie breaking of fast event at the Al-Ghazali mosque here today.

Yesterday, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said that ministry officials will hold a meeting with the Sarawak government next week to discuss matters regarding the Padu registration exercise.

Rafizi said this was due to the directive by the state government to suspend Padu registration and updates in the state.

Meanwhile, Fadillah said although individuals in Sarawak are free to register for Padu, he believes that the people will comply with the directives issued by the state government.

"I believe the people of Sarawak will follow the directives at the state level but in any case, this state has recorded one of the highest numbers of Padu registrants,” he said.

Until yesterday, over 7.36 million Malaysians, involving 35 per cent of the population of this country, have updated their information in the Padu system since its launch on Jan 2.

Earlier, Fadillah, who is also Petra Jaya MP, handed out ‘duit raya’ contributions to 120 individuals comprising orphans and tahfiz students from Rumah Amal Nur Murni, Madrasah Darul Uloom Al-Fatah and Pusat Tahfiz Husnul Khatimah. — Bernama