Padu needs commercial data, regular audits - Experts

KUALA LUMPUR - The government’s Central Database Hub (Padu) launched on Jan 2 is a step forward in ensuring better public governance, particularly in making sure socioeconomic policies are well-implemented through an all-around data orientation.

Security and political analyst from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) School of Media and Information Warfare Studies, Dr Noor Nirwandy Mat Noordin, however, said besides individual and household profile data, Padu can also be expanded to include data on businesses and commercial outlets in the country.

"This is to ensure that the system also fulfils the task of looking into potential manipulation of the financial distribution system caused by inequality of prices of goods around the region due to stockpiling and middlemen, among others, which cause price hikes.

"Padu needs these data to ensure it can cope with the commercial sector involved in providing necessities to the public, including eateries and household products, as well as to ensure those operated by small and large-scale businesses will not be left out from the system,” he told Bernama when contacted.

He added that the government should regularly inform the public on all platforms, especially social media, on how Padu works to ensure that all walks of life can use the system without too many hiccups.

Meanwhile, a professor from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Prof Dr Rusli Abdullah suggested the government conduct regular audits to identify vulnerabilities in the system.

He said this would allow any issues to be addressed promptly, as well as keeping software, operating systems and applications up-to-date with the latest security patches to mitigate potential vulnerabilities in ensuring a top-notch security system.

"The government needs to re-engineer certain processes which are irrelevant and insignificant so that the system becomes smarter and is operated rationally,” he said while also suggesting a procedure for a backup and recovery system as well as implementing regular data backups and testing the restoration process to minimise the impact of potential data loss or system failures.

Padu is the national integrated socio-economic database that combines data from government departments and agencies. It contains the profiles of individuals and households from Malaysian nationals and permanent residents which will provide a fair picture of the socioeconomic position of every household in Malaysia.

It was developed entirely by civil servants from three main agencies, namely the Economy Ministry, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) and the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu), in collaboration with various other agencies.

Registration was open to the public from Jan 2 till March 31, and users can update and verify 39 personal details, including identification numbers, number of household members and their addresses. - BERNAMA