00:00 An expert says public scepticism has been the government's biggest hurdle to overcome
00:07 after only 10% of Malaysians have registered with the Central Database Hub since its launch
00:12 on January 2. Lim Chee Han, a policy researcher for the
00:16 non-profit Third World Network, said the low number of registrants was not due to a lack
00:21 of information on Padu, but the challenge of persuading people to sign up.
00:26 Resident people are still sceptical about the initiative, with some questioning the
00:30 necessity of re-entering their data when they have already been recorded by various government
00:35 agencies and ministries. Lim also said there are no incentives for
00:40 people who know they are not eligible to receive targeted subsidies, particularly those in
00:45 the T20 and M40 income groups. Meanwhile, former Deputy International Trade
00:51 and Industry Minister Ong Kian Ming said Putrajaya should not use Padu to deliver targeted
00:56 subsidies if the number of registrants stays below 5 million by March 31.
01:02 He said the government should continue using existing databanks, including the Bantuan
01:06 to Nairama database maintained by the Finance Ministry.
01:10 According to the Statistics Department, only 3.08 million of the 30.08 million Malaysians
01:16 have signed up and verified their details on Padu as of February 13.
01:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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