PUTRAJAYA: Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli is appealing to the non-Malays to register on to the Central Database Hub (Padu) to prevent them from being excluded from any government assistance.
Citing the latest mapping system to identify which areas in the country with lowest Padu registrations, Rafizi said constituencies such as Seputeh, Segambut and Bukit Bintang had the highest number of residents who had yet to register into the government system.
Kuala Lumpur was second after Selangor with the highest number of areas with unregistered people in Padu at 992 areas.
"In Kuala Lumpur, the majority (of those unregistered) is between condominiums and flats. I can say the residents have more non-Malays who are at risk of exclusion from getting government aid.
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"My plea to all non-Malay friends that we have two weeks left (to register to Padu)," he said in a press conference at Menara Prisma here, on Monday (March 18).
Rafizi said by registering in Padu would reduce the risk of being excluded from any government assistance for the non-Malays such as aid for the elderly or those with special needs.
"More often than not, non-Malay residents were not aware what assistance or programmes were available for them because the approach before was to have people apply to the government department.
"This is an opportunity to get included in the overall planning of government programmes because the idea of Padu is that, rather than wait for household in need to come and seek assistance, we can identify straight away," he added.
Earlier during the press conference, Rafizi said 4,752 areas across the nation had residents who were yet to register under the Padu nor received any government assistance before.
Rafizi said Selangor recorded the highest number of areas with low registration in Padu at 1,282 followed by Kuala Lumpur with 992 areas, Sarawak with 765 areas and Sabah at 620 areas.
"In the context of implementation under Padu, any updates by the public or individual administrative records are visualised down to the locality level.
"Among the examples of the areas which are identified as localities, are public housing areas (PPR), low cost housing areas, housing quarters, flats, condominiums, shop houses, water villages (rumah air), long houses and individual houses.
"The research on Padu updates at the local level will serve as input to ensure all areas are covered, have representation, and prevent any omissions," he said at a press conference at Menara Prisma here, on Monday (March 18).
Additionally, Rafizi said Johor, Penang and Kelantan recorded more than 200 areas with little to no Padu registrations at 271, 243 and 228 areas respectively.
Kedah reported 157 areas with unregistered population followed by states recording less than 80 areas with low registration in Padu were Pahang (70), Perak (67), Terengganu (35), Negri Sembilan (eight), Perlis (seven), Putrajaya (five) and Melaka (two).
Even though the residents from the areas stated were identified from the B40 and lower M40 groups, Rafizi said there were no have data on these individuals receiving any government assistance according to previous databases.
"The residents in these localities are at risk of being excluded from receiving or participating in any upcoming government programmes or assistance," he said.
Since there was two weeks left until the March 31 deadline, Rafizi said that the Padu team would intensify their work to increase registration to the programme among the residents in the identified areas.
