Towards centralisation: Residents being assisted by Federal Territories Statistics Department staff when registering for Padu at the Digital Economy Centre at PPR Desa Rejang Setapak. — AZMAN GHANI/The Star
DATA security under the Central Database Hub (Padu) continues to be a major concern with the issue raised in Dewan Rakyat by several MPs.
Among them was Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam), who asked Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli about measures to protect Padu from hackers.
“How will Padu be protected so that it will prevent hackers from making off with data, resulting in the people becoming victims?” he said when asking a supplementary question in Dewan Rakyat.
The MCA president said assurances by the government of data security in Padu would help to convince more Malaysians to register with the system.
Dr Wee also wanted to know who would be responsible for verifying the updated data under Padu, which cannot be altered once information is keyed in.
Apart from this, he wanted to know how an individual’s net disposable income is accurately verified.
Earlier, R. Yuneswaran (PH-Segamat) said Padu is marked by a low registration rate.
As of Feb 25, he said only 3.79 million people had updated their details with Padu, although there is less than a month to go before the March 31 deadline.
Yuneswaran also said an assurance by Rafizi on Padu’s data security would encourage more people to update their details.
To this, Rafizi acknowledged that Padu is a topic of interest among MPs and that it is the top issue of query during the current meeting.“Questions on Padu were asked about 40 times... It is the most (frequently) raised topic in these proceedings,” he said.
Although the minister answered questions on other aspects of the workings of Padu, he did not provide an assurance over Padu’s data security, Dr Wee and Yuneswaran suggested.
Rafizi said the government would go ahead with Padu and roll out targeted subsidies in phases.
He said there are three categories of people who have yet to register under Padu.
“The first are those who don’t want to update their data because they feel that they are not eligible for aid.
“Second are those who will wait until the deadline approaches before registering.
“The third group will be those who will rush to register once the government announces the targeted subsidies,” Rafizi said.
Last week, Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng (BN-Tanjung Piai) said the people should not be coerced into registering for Padu.
He added that there are doubts on personal data safety as Padu is not bound by the Personal Data Protection Act.
