Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim launched the Pangkalan Data Utama (PADU) portal yesterday. Besides helping to disseminate targeted subsidies more efficiently in the future, the database will also store Malaysian's socioeconomic data for government policymaking. Since the launch though, a number of issues have been reported, as well as general concerns from the public around data leakage and cybersecurity. We speak first with Dr Lau Cher Han, who played a part in developing the portal, and then later with Dr Rachel Gong from KRI on how PADU can stay relevant and effective in the long term.

Image Credit: Facebook / Kementerian Ekonomi - Laman Rasmi