With about 65% of Malaysia’s population yet to register, Kitingan said this reflected a profound lack of trust in the initiative.

“I am also uncomfortable that economy minister Rafizi Ramli’s remarks on this issue have been too assertive, verging on coercive. Therefore, I urge the minister to pause and reassess the strategy,” he said in a statement today.

The Tambunan assemblyman said the March 31 deadline to register seemed hasty, and questioned if Padu’s system was truly secure and whether Putrajaya had the capability to safeguard users’ information.

He also agreed with Sarawak minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah that Padu was quite redundant given the existence of other systems such as e-Kasih or the database used to disburse Rahmah cash aid.

“There are also more pertinent questions like who developed Padu and how will the data be protected? What would happen if the data was leaked?

“With Malaysia the eighth most breached nation in the world, I think Padu is the last thing the government needs to introduce right now,” he said, citing a report released by cybersecurity firm Surfshark last year.

Kitingan also suggested that the data required by Padu only be managed by the respective states.

Sarawak has suspended Padu registrations pending a meeting with Rafizi’s ministry.

Last week, Karim called on Putrajaya to exempt higher-income groups from registering with Padu since they would not require government assistance.

This was dismissed by Rafizi, who said it was Karim’s “personal view”.

Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg had also voiced concerns over certain issues with Padu to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, which Rafizi said will be discussed when he meets the state government this week.

As of yesterday, 7.7 million people have registered and updated their information on Padu.