SIBU: Public hesitancy towards signing up for the Central Database Hub (PADU) may stem from recent data breach incidents.
Farhana Ismail, a senior lecturer at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)’s Faculty of Economics and Business, said there is an urgent need to bolster security measures within the PADU system to regain public trust.
“Enhancing PADU’s security features is key to soothing public fears and ensuring their participation,” she told New Sarawak Tribune today (Mar 3).
She further observed that the lack of awareness regarding PADU’s importance and advantages plays a role in the public’s reluctance to register.
“Many are left wondering about the need for PADU registration when they’ve already submitted similar information via platforms such as the MySTR application,” she added.
Farhana said that higher-income individuals, particularly those in the M40 and T20 brackets, might assume that their submissions through the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia’s (LHDN) e-filing system are adequate.
She advocated for aggressive promotional campaigns across television, radio, and social media to enlighten Malaysians on PADU’s significance and benefits.
“Additionally, establishing PADU service counters at easily accessible venues, including urban transformation centres (UTCs), malls, farmers’ markets, and community halls, especially in rural locales, could streamline the registration and IC verification process,” she said.
To address apathy towards database completion, she proposed incentives like grocery vouchers or e-wallet credits for registrants, drawing parallels to token rewards often given in social research surveys.
“These gestures of appreciation could boost cooperation levels and significantly increase PADU registration figures,” she said.
