SOME folks are queasy about the Central Data-base Hub (Padu). Many have become dizzy with fright on social media.
There are voices saying it will give lots of trouble and crumble into rubble. That pessimism is to be expected.
We all know the reason for Padu's birth. So this is, for sure, not the season to expound on the conception once more.
This writer received a number of messages from friends and strangers that explain the aforementioned 'fright'. One bears repeating in this space.
"Don't register with PADU as it is highly security-flawed, easily hacked and all private info stolen. Too risky as detail info such as IC, Selfie, etc and IF stolen and linked with Finger print, National Registration/ Immigration Dept, all your assets gone, bank money withdrawn, passports barred and banks accounts frozen within seconds."
(Don't groan about the language. Almost nobody does nowadays.)
The economy minister has addressed the concerns. But people will remain worried, paranoid even. C.S. Lewis's demon, Screwtape, would rejoice.
But doing nothing about the subsidy regime is unreasonable and unthinkable, too. It's simply not an option. Padu is not taking us to the moon, but it gets us pretty close.
If, as some seem to suggest, this nascent system is aborted, what may the alternative be?
"Do nothing." We've heard that before, right, just two paragraphs ago? And we've heard echoes of the following lines too.
"Let's not go to the Moon", "let's not invest in AI", "let's not build the Penang Bridge", "let's not build any more MRT lines", "let's not transition to renewable energy", "let's not ban the sale of cigarettes". All because "we are not ready for them now".
These missions were/are hard to accomplish. And history is littered with initiatives that didn't go as planned. Remember 1MDB and the GST?
So people may be excused for being sceptical about government measures that are meant to produce monumental changes. Mistrust has been sown, tricksters and wasters have grown enormous trunks, and fear has borne poisonous fruit.
The scepticism must be addressed transparently and persuasively but this writer argues it should not, especially if fuelled by paranoia, be allowed to dictate the road that's taken.
Populism is one thing. But getting drunk on fear and fables — harsh but necessary words — is another.
Consider the heckled (in a manner of speaking) and hapless GST. Too many rained fire and brimstone on the taxation law. Now they are probably hoping, sheepishly and secretly, that a phoenix will rise from the ashes soon.
Some are unhappy with Padu also because it means they will no longer get subsidies. They are from the T20 group, the ones who accounted for 85 per cent of personal income tax receipts in 2022.
Their contention is this: "We pay most of the taxes, yet we cannot enjoy the benefits?"
The writer sees their point and perplexity. It's a double whammy of taxation and higher prices.
But he wonders if the T20 will really be worse off. Will they slip into M40 because they are deprived of subsidies?
The fact is, the T20 are already helping to redistribute wealth. They have been doing this for a long time (their disproportionate share of the tax collection attests to this), but Padu represents an opportunity to do it better.
The writer's message to them is this: isn't shaping a more equitable society a struggle worthy of their strivings? For sure it's better than living in the dizziness of despair and delusion that fear feeds us.
The writer is NST production editor