KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 14 — The design of Malaysia’s welfare programme based on analysis results taken from the Central Database Hub (Padu) will be presented to the federal Cabinet by the end of this month, Mingguan Malaysia reported today.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin who heads the Department of Statistics Malaysia told the newspaper that information from Padu is still under analysis and verification as people are still updating their data.
He said that once complete, the verified data will be taken to the Ministry of Economy to form public welfare programmes such as social assistance, subsidy rationalisation and others.
“Next, the design of the programme will be set at the highest level such as the Cabinet which is targeted to be implemented this month,” he was quoted as saying.
He said the data obtained from Padu will provide a more updated picture of Malaysians by combining macro and micro analysis.
“It will include up to district level. Modelling methods and scenario analysis will also be implemented,” he was quoted as saying.
Padu was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on January 2.
Registration officially closed on March 31 with a total of 11.5 million Malaysians who updated their information.
This number makes up 52.6 per cent of the government's overall target of 30.9 million Malaysians aged 18 and above.
Mohd Uzir was reportedly asked about reopening Padu’s registration to those who still had not done so.
“At the moment we are still in the analysis process. The question of whether Padu will resume after this will be determined if there is a need, which is as stated by the Minister of Economy (Rafizi Ramli) in a statement issued on April 1,” he told the Sunday edition of Malay daily Utusan Malaysia.
Rafizi previously said in the statement that he did not rule out the possibility of Padu registration being reopened for a short period if necessary, after the government decided on a targeted subsidy mechanism.