PUTRAJAYA (Jan 4): The March 31 deadline for Malaysians and permanent residents to update their data in the Central Database Hub is crucial to the government's fiscal consolidation plans, according to Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli.
This is because Padu is tasked with providing the government with a "reasonable" set of household socioeconomic data for it to implement its subsidy rationalisation plans, said Rafizi.
The March 31 cut-off point will allow the government time to cross-check the data inputted with the government’s existing set.
“We have to go through this because if we miss the March 31 deadline it will derail all the fiscal consolidation plans that this country needs,” Rafizi told the press on Thursday.
Rafizi said targeted subsidies cannot be rolled out immediately just because Putrajaya wants to as data readiness is required.
“That's why in the past, targeted subsidies were extremely difficult for governments to pull off.
“So, our approach is: 'Look, while the government has all the leeway to decide the policy measures, up to what is suitable per the government's plan, our job is to make sure that the data, up to March 31, is ready. Because after the deadline, whatever decision the government makes on retargeting subsidies can be implemented immediately,” he said.
So, any extension of the March 31 cut-off date would only delay the government’s plan to implement subsidy rationalisation.
“It’s a tall order that government agencies have never pulled off, so I want to balance that; while you (media) and the public have concerns, this is a [matter of] national interest,” he said.
Post-March 31, besides discussions on implementing subsidy rationalisation, Rafizi said the government will also be deciding how the rakyat will be allowed to access Padu in the future.
“After March 31, we will go back to the government to decide how often or frequently we want to allow the public to access and update their data,” he said.
“We can’t [extend] the deadline now, otherwise even until kiamat (the end of times) we won’t be able to match the data,” he added.