Over 4,700 areas in the country have low registration numbers under Padu, says Rafizi

PUTRAJAYA: A total of 4,752 areas across the nation have residents who have yet to register under the Central Database Hub (Padu) nor received any government assistance before, says Rafizi Ramli.

The Economy Minister said Selangor recorded the highest number of areas with low registration in Padu at 1,282 followed by Kuala Lumpur with 992 areas, Sarawak with 765 areas and Sabah at 620 areas.

“In the context of implementation under Padu, any updates by the public or individual administrative records are visualised down to the locality level.

“Among the examples of the areas which are identified as localities are public housing areas (PPR), low cost housing areas, housing quarters, flats, condominiums, shop houses, water villages (rumah air), longhouses and individual houses.

“The research on Padu updates at the local level will serve as input to ensure all areas are covered, have representation, and prevent any omissions,” he said at a press conference at Menara Prisma here on Monday (March 18).

Additionally, Rafizi said Johor, Penang and Kelantan recorded more than 200 areas with little to no Padu registrations at 271, 243 and 228 areas, respectively.

Kedah reported 157 areas with unregistered population followed by states recording less than 80 areas with low registration in Padu were Pahang (70), Perak (67), Terengganu (35), Negri Sembilan (eight), Perlis (seven), Putrajaya (five) and Melaka (two).

Although the residents from the areas stated were identified from the B40 and B60 groups, Rafizi said there was no data on these individuals receiving any government assistance according to previous databases.

“The residents in these localities are at risk of being excluded from receiving or participating in any upcoming government programmes or assistance,” he said.

Since there was two weeks left until the March 31 deadline, Rafizi said that the Padu team would intensify their work to increase registrations to the programme among the residents in the identified areas.

“The focus is to provide registration to residents or the public who have risk of exclusion from government assistance.

“Even during the fasting month, we have moved our teams to work closely with the public instead of waiting for them to come to the counters,” he added.

Rafizi said the ministry would conduct a town hall session on March 23 at the MBSA Convention Centre aimed at providing information on the benefits of the Padu as well as to secure registrations from the public in the identified areas in Selangor.

“This session will be attended by, among others, MPs, assemblymen, district officers, mayors, as well as YDP, chief division commissioners (COB) for each local authority, and representatives of Joint Management Bodies (JMB),” he said.

Rafizi also urged the respective state governments with remaining unregistered spots to take similar steps by gathering residents’ representatives from high-risk exclusion areas to encourage Padu registration.

As of March 17, Rafizi said that a total of 5.43 million individuals have updated their data in Padu since its launch on Jan 2.