PADU Is Back, Focus On Data-Driven Governance
Malaysia’s central data platform Pangkalan Data Utama (PADU) is making a comeback with enhanced features and a renewed policy direction, as the government pushes forward its ambition to build a more data-driven public sector.
Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir announced that the upgraded PADU portal is now accessible to the public, with new narratives and a clearer roadmap aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government service delivery.
Beginning May 2026, the Ministry of Economy will introduce PADU’s Analytics-as-a-Service offering, enabling government agencies to conduct deeper socio-economic analysis. The move is expected to support more targeted policymaking and programme design, particularly in addressing the needs of specific population segments.
PADU, approved by the Cabinet in November 2023, serves as a unified platform integrating individual and household socio-economic data across multiple government agencies. The system is jointly developed by the Ministry of Economy, the Department of Statistics Malaysia and the National Digital Department.
The platform houses approximately 30.7 million socio-economic profiles of citizens and permanent residents, with data continuously integrated from various sources. Earlier, between January and March 2024, about 10.5 million individuals had updated their information on the portal, forming the backbone of the system’s dataset.
With ongoing integration, the government said users are no longer required to manually update their information, positioning PADU as a real-time backend infrastructure supporting public services. The platform now offers multiple services to agencies, including Profile-as-a-Service, Data-as-a-Service and a unified data platform.
PADU has already processed 26 approved data requests from government agencies, supporting policy planning, programme design, as well as verification and validation processes. Usage is expected to grow as Malaysia moves towards a fully data-driven governance model.
The government has also stressed that data security remains a priority, with PADU registered as a Critical National Information Infrastructure (NCII) asset under the Cyber Security Act 2024.
