PENANG has made it mandatory for all its civil servants to use e-Census when they take part in the 2020 Population and Housing Census of Malaysia beginning July 7.
State Secretary Datuk Abdul Razak Jaafar said this decision was taken today after he had chaired a state-level meeting of the Population and Housing Census implementation committee in Komtar which was organised by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) Penang.
He said when the last meeting was held in February for all heads of department and district officers, the census was originally planned to be done manually.
“Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve made a decision today that it is compulsory for all civil servants from the state government, local councils, government-linked companies, government agencies and statutory bodies to take part via e-Census.
“E-Census is faster, easier and cost saving. The census will be conducted in two phases. The first phase, for e-Census, will be held from July 7 to Sept 30 while the second phase, for manual, will be held from Oct 7 to Oct 24,” Abdul Razak told a press conference.
He said civil servants, who may not have an email address, would have to pre-register themselves for the e-Census. They are required to create an email account and would be assisted to do so if necessary.
In Penang, Abdul Razak said the census would cover an estimated 58,000 residences involving about 1.8 million people.
He added that an estimated total of 5,851 censors and 812 supervisors are required to carry out the census after receiving a five-day training.
Also present at the press conference was DOSM Penang director Mohd Suhaimi Mohd Yunus.
This will be the sixth census to be conducted in the country.
The population census in Malaysia is undertaken once every 10 years and Malaysia is among the 54 countries that will carry out the census this year.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan