In the event you’re wondering how much it has cost to develop the Pangkalan Data Utama (PADU) socio-economic database, here’s the reply. From 2023 till now, the federal government has spent RM85.27 million to get the much-vaunted integrated national socio-economic database in place, The Star reports.
In response to economy minister Rafizi Ramli, the fee includes that for equipment and ICT software, checking and verification services, publicity services and strategic communications for the platform. The sum spent also covers the registration of users, each online and offline, he said in a written reply in parliament, made in response to a matter by Salamiah Mohd Nor (PN-Temerloh) on eligible recipients of targeted subsidies based on the PADU database.
The database, which was officially rolled out on January 2, is speculated to mix all available data of people and households collected from government departments and agencies, making it a key component in how the federal government retargets subsidies and assistance, utilising household net disposable income metrics as an indicator.
In early communication about it when it was launched, the federal government said that the information collected by PADU could be used to find out eligibility for its targeted fuel subsidy, but the following emergence of the Program Bantuan Subsidi Madani following the move to implement targeted fuel subsidies starting with diesel raised questions on how big a job PADU actually played in determining things within the diesel rationalisation programme.
Much of that is all the way down to having diesel owners register themselves for aid under Budi Madani, which begs the query – if PADU has all of the crucial data, why can’t or not it’s used to find out who’s eligible and who isn’t, and why the necessity to register yet again on Budi? In spite of everything, it has been established that the database has info on all of the cars you own, in addition to relevant data that might determine when you qualify or not for assistance.
The dearth of dynamic and complete data could have something to do with that, with Rafizi revealing that PADU now has data on 10,544,016 individuals.
That is marginally lower than the around 10.85 million that was said to have signed up at the top of the registration period (March 31). While that number was nearly 50% of the full variety of 21.96 million Malaysians aged 18 and above (out of 30.08 million individuals placed within the database), that’s also half the available dynamic data the federal government has at its disposal to quantify things. One can only hope that the method for RON 95 petrol might be smoother and more transparent when it comes.
Regardless of the case could also be, PADU chugs on, with Rafizi stating that the database has entered the second phase, which involves analysing and streamlining the information of those registered on it. He said that this phase also includes determining household size, expenditure, net income and forming a “use case.”
Regarding the mechanism for targeted subsidies, he said the factors for the use case are still being determined. “The federal government will ensure a good mechanism to discover beneficiary groups and minimise inclusion and exclusion errors,” he said.
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This Article First Appeared At paultan.org
