PENAMPANG: Tamu (farmers’ markets) throughout Sabah should be used as a location for registration and widespread dissemination of information about the central database hub (PADU) system, especially for the elderly and residents in rural areas.
Kepayan assemblywoman Jannie Lasimbang said this is because Tamu, the traditional market for local people to buy and sell their goods in Sabah, has been the focus of residents in this state for generations to get their daily necessities.
She said senior citizens and residents living in rural areas find it difficult to register online using smartphones and the internet, so making Tamu the registration location is a smart move to address that problem.
“Seniors always go to Tamu not only to buy necessities but also to have a drink and meet their friends. These Tamu are part of our lives in Sabah, so if there is a PADU registration drive at Tamu, it is easy for us to help these seniors register.
“Perhaps they don’t know how to go through the registration, even the internet in the interior is not very good, so at Tamu, we make it easy for them to register directly and get help to register,” she told reporters here today.
Earlier, Jannie, together with the state Information Department deputy director Supian Musa and staff from the Department of Statistics and the Department of Information did a PADU publicity and registration drive at Tamu Donggongon here which attracted the attention of many residents.
One of the residents, Everly Liundison, 71, said that she had previously heard about PADU on television, however, she did not understand the function and requirements of registering PADU until she found the PADU counter at Tamu Donggongon.
“I know people are busy registering for PADU, thinking it is only for young people. Indeed, I always come to Tamu to buy kitchen items. So, when I saw this counter I asked, well apparently everyone has to register so that it’s easy for the government to give aid, so I registered,” she said.
Retired school clerk Muhd Shajire Raman, 67, said that he once asked his children for help to register in PADU because he did not understand the system’s registration process, but by chance, he found the PADU counter at Tamu Donggongon.
“I often come here to hang out with friends. I happened to see a PADU counter here and I asked for help. They helped me register straight away, so it was very easy for me,” he said.
Fruit trader Irawan Karia, 48, had previously tried to register PADU online using a mobile phone but faced difficulties in answering questions about his income.
“When they opened the PADU counter at Tamu, I was the first person to come and asked how to answer those questions as I am self-employed and I didn’t know how to declare my income,” he said.–Bernama