PUTRAJAYA, Dec 29 — The Central Database Hub (PADU), to be launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Jan 2, will not be integrated with bank information systems, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said.
At a press conference on PADU here today, he said the country’s banking system is governed by the Financial Services Act 2013, which does not permit data sharing.
“If it involves banks, (then) there is none (integration) as banks have the Financial Services Act which does not allow any such sharing,” he said when asked to respond to public concerns on whether banking data will be integrated with the PADU system.
PADU is a comprehensive database containing integrated microdata from various sources of government agencies and is scheduled to be launched on Jan 2.
PADU was developed entirely by civil servants from three main agencies, namely the Ministry of Economy, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM), and the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU), and also involved collaboration with various other agencies.
Rafizi mentioned several examples of the data integration, such as personal data from the National Registration Department, information from the Education Ministry and the Ministry of Higher Education, while address information can be obtained from utility companies such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad and water supply operators.
In addition, he said PADU also collaborates with the private sector to encourage the public to register and update their data in the system, including Touch ‘n Go (TnG), which will offer free Near Field Communication (NFC) cards to the first 3,000 registrants.
Besides TnG, he said PADU also collaborates with Mydin hypermarket by offering purchase discounts to the public who have registered with the system, adding that further details, however, will be announced by Mydin later.
As such, Rafizi encouraged more companies or retailers to participate in the ministry’s initiative to boost public registration of the PADU system.
“We encourage as many retailers and services as possible to participate… for them to create their own offers to ride on the focus and excitement on PADU for the next few months without using government money.
“We predict there will be a lot of excitement and also registration for PADU. (Open to) any third party who wants to use this to get more crowd to your store or use or digital service by all means,” he said.
Once launched by the Prime Minister, the government will provide the public with the opportunity to update and verify 39 pieces of personal information such as identification numbers, household numbers and addresses until March 31, 2024, for targeted subsidy re-identification, Rafizi said.
“We open it to the public to verify, we will obtain all the data, enter it into the data link, and most of these processes use secured File Transfer Protocol, meaning the whole database in the system will have regularity from the involved agencies to ensure that updated data is regularly updated.
“At the same time, the public, when the PADU portal is activated, they can go and update at any time,” he said.
He said the government encourages people to update their information to ensure that the information in PADU is up-to-date.
Citing informal sector workers as an example, Rafizi said workers are allowed to update information, including their income under PADU, to ensure they do not miss out on government-provided benefits such as subsidies.
“Although in the government’s database, there is already an assignment of what their income is based on whatever information we have, we just need to validate and update.
“It’s not like those information is not already there, it already exists, and then the algorithm will match, so from there we will have different classes of household profiles,” he said.
Asked whether the government would take action against those who do not update or verify information, Rafizi said no action would be taken.
“Some are asking, what if I choose to opt out? (What if) I do not want to update? Yes, you can but the government will only use existing information in the government’s database to determine the household profile and eligibility for targeted subsidies.
“So if you do not update, no issues but if you don’t get it (subsidies), don’t get upset,” he said.
