CENSUS Malaysia 2020 (CM2020), launched by the prime minister on Tuesday, could not be more timely. Conducted once every 10 years, with the last one in 2010, CM2020 will plot the nation's development for the next 10 years.
This time around, the census comes when the nation is recovering from the effects of Covid-19 and the consequent Movement Control Order.
That the pandemic forced most of our economic activities to shutter, leading to loss of income and, in some cases, loss of jobs, makes this census even more important than the previous ones.
As the prime minister rightly said, through the census, the size, distribution, composition and socioeconomic characteristics of the people and housing in Malaysia can be identified, thus serving as a source of reference and important foundation for development planning.
It's a mammoth task — tallying up all the people living in the country and recording basic information, such as age, sex, and race. Everything is important and will be taken into account.
Information about health facilities, education, recreational facilities and even road networks can be gathered through the census. With the data, the government can formulate and implement policies for the good of the country and wellbeing of the people. For instance, lawmakers can use the information collected to determine which communities, schools, hospitals and roads need federal funding.
This year's census will involve 32.7 million Malaysians. There will be 108 questions. It has been modernised, and not just in the sense that it can now be done online.
It focuses on the household listing method, the integration of administrative data, improving the rate for self-response (the use of e-Census) and operation works and field monitoring.
The questions and methodology are such that more localised data can be obtained. As Statistics Department chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin puts it, this time, the questions are "quite special", or specific.
These questions include the type of employment and time needed to travel from home to the workplace so that the government can plan to provide better facilities.
The previous five censuses had provided the information needed for the government to make the necessary planning for the development of the country. This can clearly be seen by the good life we now enjoy and the benefits we have received.
This, however, could not have come about without the commitment of the people, specifically those who had taken the census.
More importantly, if the people taking the census did not provide accurate information, then the data available to be analysed would be have been skewed. The trickle-down effect would have been that developmental planning would also have been skewed and, thus, the benefits not so great.
Hence, this Leader urges Malaysians to give their full cooperation to census takers. It is, after all, for our collective good.
The feedback provided in the questionnaire must be accurate and truthful. Preparations for the census had begun as early as 2016, with various government ministries, departments and agencies being consulted so that the best questions could be prepared to get the best and precise information.
This is how the government can improve governance and administration. Simply put, we need to do this to help the government help us.