PETALING JAYA: The government should stick to the current income groups concept instead of the net disposable income method in measuring the socioeconomic position of the people under the Central Database Hub (Padu), says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
The MCA president said the disposable income method has a glaring problem that would lead to unfair distribution of subsidies among the public.
Dr Wee said while he supported the implementation of Padu, the government needed to look deeply into the mechanism of how it would accurately and fairly distribute assistance to Malaysians.
“Disposable income means the total personal income of a person minus his total cost of living. The remaining balance is the disposable income.
“This concept has a problem. Firstly, the cost of living between different localities, urban and rural areas, is different.
“Secondly, some people are good at saving while some spend extravagantly.
“In this sense, a person who is good at saving money may not get subsidies. So, is the government going to give (subsidies) to those who spend carelessly?” he said in a video posted on his Facebook page on Saturday (Jan 20).
Therefore, the Ayer Hitam MP said it would be better to stick to the current T20, M40 and B40 income groups concept.
He said while it was understood that the government would want to increase people’s spending to boost the economy, it would be prudent to rethink the adoption of the disposable income method.
“Don’t use the disposable income concept. Use the T20, M40 and B40 concept with improvements in terms of the locality and the number of dependents.”
At the same time, he said that without a solid guarantee by the government that the information shared with Padu was safe, it would cause the public to be wary of sharing their personal details.
This is especially since there have been cases of security breaches involving government websites in the past, the former Cabinet minister said.
“This is about personal data. Yes, it is clear in the law that any agency cannot reveal (personal data) and I am sure the government will not do this but what about security breaches?
“People will be skeptical in sharing their information because it has happened before where hackers attacked the web portal of a government agency and resulted in an information leak.
“These people can pretend to be an officer from the Customs Department or the police, which is why scams are now a common thing.
“There must be a guarantee that those who share their information on Padu, otherwise, they will feel anxious,” he added.
Previously, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said the government would adopt household net disposable income metrics to ensure better delivery of its socio-economic policies.
Padu was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Jan 2, but concerns about identity theft began the next day after users were able to register accounts for others simply by using their identity card numbers and postcodes.
