Malaysians are asked to have March 31 as the deadline to register and update their details in the Central Database Hub (Padu) so that targeted subsidies can then be distributed as soon as possible, says Rafizi Ramli.
At a press conference on Thursday (Jan 4), the Economy Minister said extending the deadline would only delay the delivery of aid to those in need.
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At a press conference on Thursday (Jan 4), the Economy Minister said extending the deadline would only delay the delivery of aid to those in need.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 We want to make sure that our responsibility at Padu is to provide the best insight into
00:10 socio-economic household, household socio-economic standing by 31st March because you need that
00:19 before the government can make any decision on subsidy rationalisation.
00:25 Because if for example, you see the chicken and egg thing, if I know that for the last
00:31 one year, especially some of the finance journalists have been asking, "Oh why lah
00:35 government tak buat apa nama ini, subsidy rationalisation, what happened to Rwan95?"
00:39 It's a chicken and egg thing.
00:42 It's not like you can say, "I want to do this", it happens immediately.
00:46 If you want to do something, then you have to see whether there is a data readiness or
00:51 not.
00:52 If the data is not ready, then you argue lah, bila nak siap tu, bila nak siap ni.
00:57 That's why in the past, targeted subsidy is extremely difficult for governments to pull
01:02 off.
01:03 So our approach is to say, "Look, while the government has all the leeway to decide the
01:09 policy measures up to what is suitable per the government's plan, our job is to make
01:18 sure that the data is ready up to 31st March, because after 31st March, whatever decision
01:25 of the government, retargeting of subsidy can be done immediately.
01:30 Kalau kita buka sampai June, lagi lama, then that means that government kena tunggu lagi
01:36 lama lah before we can implement subsidy rationalisation.
01:41 So that's why it's tough.
01:42 I know that the reason why sometimes I may sound harsh, because I pity those people who
01:49 are paid a lot lower than you guys, who have to handle 30 million line items, so that government
01:57 doesn't spend 200, 300 million, so that the country can save money.
02:03 So it's a tall order that government agencies have never pulled off.
02:12 So I want to balance that while you have concerns and the public have concerns, this is a national
02:19 interest.
02:22 And if we do not push the timeline like this, and the timeline is extremely ambitious, I
02:30 think they all hate me, actually, they just smile depan saja.
02:35 So we have to manage between a pool of people who have been working non-stop for six months,
02:42 we also have to manage public adoption and public concerns, we have to go through this.
02:49 And I hope media understands if I seem a bit assertive, because we have to go through this,
02:53 because if we miss the 31st March deadline, then it will derail all the fiscal consolidation
03:01 plans that this country needs.
03:04 And if we miss lagi dan lagi dan lagi, then sampai bila-bila lah.
03:10 You will keep on reporting bila nak buat rationalisation, government will say we cannot do it because
03:15 data is not ready.
03:17 So there must be a cut-off.
03:19 And pulling through this cut-off date is a painful process for everyone, for the public,
03:24 for us, but it is something that we have to pull through up to 31st March.
03:29 Thank you.
03:30 Thank you.
03:30 Thank you.
03:31 Thank you.
03:31 Thank you.
03:32 Thank you.
03:32 Thank you.
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03:33 Thank you.
03:34 Thank you.
03:34 Thank you.
03:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]