PUTRAJAYA: Around 4,752 areas in Malaysia have individuals who are neither registered under Pangkaan Data Utama (PADU) nor have been part of any government assistance programmes, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli pointed out.
"The inhabitants of these areas, although identified from among B40 and B60, have no data in any database previous government aid data," he told a media briefing today.
Rafizi highlighted that the majority of these vulnerable areas are concentrated in the Klang Valley, with Selangor topping the list at 1,282 localities, followed by Kuala Lumpur at 992.
Sarawak with 765, Sabah with 620, Johor with 271, Penang with 243, Kelantan with 228, and Kedah with 157 identified locations.
Conversely, states such as Pahang registered 70 localities, Perak with 67, Terengganu with 35, Negeri Sembilan with 8, Perlis with 7, Putrajaya with 5, and Melaka with 2.
Rafizi said residents in these localities are at risk of being passed over from receiving, or being involved in any programme or future government assistance.
In the context of PADU implementation, updates by the people or individual administrative records are visualised up to the locality level.
Locality refers to the residence of a group of local people who have clear social lines such as villages or housing estates.Examples of localities are Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR)/public housing localities, and condominiums.
Rafizi said the priority is identifying areas at risk of being overlooked to prevent any loss of aid.
"My primary concern is identifying areas prone to omission, which is why we segment by geo-location and target those in B40 and M40 categories who haven't received previous government assistance," he added.
Rafizi also pointed out that areas with a higher non-Malay population are at a greater risk of being overlooked for assistance.
Places like Seputeh, Segambut, and Bukit Bintang, where many residents are non-Malays, face this issue.
"My plea to all non-Malay friends is that we have two weeks. I understand that even within our own constituencies, non-Malay residents often are not aware of the assistance or programs available to them," said Rafizi.
He said now is the chance to be part of the government's overall planning for programmes.
The idea of PADU is to identify households in need right away, rather than waiting for them to come forward seeking help.
A Town Hall session will be held on March 23, 2024 (Saturday) at the MBSA Convention that aims to shed light on the benefits of the Main Database (PADU) as well as getting cooperation from related parties to help increase enrollment in among the people, especially in the Selangor and Federal Territory areas before March 31, 2024.
A total of 5.43 million individuals have updated their PADU data up to 11:59 pm, March 17, 2024.
"If you don't register and update your data in PADU, the government will use existing data from government departments, which we believe is sufficient. "However, it is important for as many Malaysians as possible to update their data to ensure accuracy," said Rafizi.
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