Want more e-hailing services, schools, clinics in your area? Do the census

Kuala Lumpur recorded a response rate of only 32.8 percent.

Why is this peculiar, you ask?

The Malaysia Population and Housing Census (Census 2020) was initially conducted face-to-face in March 2020. However, due to the pandemic and movement control order (MCO), it was done online via e-Census starting July 2020.

The four states with the lowest completion rates namely Pahang (26.6 percent), Sarawak (22 percent), Labuan (20.5 percent) and Sabah (14.6 percent) all faced constraints at the initial stage, said Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

These include the floods in Pahang and several stages of MCO due to a massive spike in COVID-19 cases in Labuan, Sabah and Sarawak.

But what about KL?

It was certainly not facing any kind of natural disaster or sharp rise in cases last year. Furthermore, 94.6 percent of KL households have access to the internet, according to the 2019 ICT Use and Access by Individuals and Households Survey report. So it was not a problem of poor internet access either.

What it was were the population density in KL, high commitment lifestyles and poor understanding as to the need to be enumerated, said Mohd Uzir.

"There are many high rise public housing areas in KL, so the population density per area can be quite high.

"In addition to that, those living in KL tend to be busier with many commitments to meet," he told Bernama in an interview.

In addition to that, a number of the KL population who live in low-cost flats are from among the urban poor who cannot afford consistent internet access.

"For these folks, we will get better completion rates once we go house-to-house to conduct the interviews," said Mohd Uzir, who is also the Census 2020 Commissioner.

However, in certain areas like Kerinchi, Ampang and Bandar Tun Razak, response rates have been good.

Conducting door-to-door census is not as straightforward when it comes to high-end neighbourhoods and luxury apartment buildings in KL.

"Enumerators will usually be asked to make arrangements with the building management first before they can be allowed to do the interviews," he said.

Another issue contributing to the poor response rate in KL is the misconception among expatriates that they do not need to be enumerated.

"Sometimes they refuse to participate as they think only Malaysians need to be enumerated. What they don't understand is that a census is done to collect data on everyone living in the country at a particular time, citizens or not," he said.

Their response would also contribute to the improvements of public services in an area, among others.

"So if they've been living and working in Malaysia for a while, these would definitely affect and benefit them as well," he said.

Also contributing to poor response rate is the notion that the data collected will only be of benefit to the government, policy makers and corporate sector.

"This is not true. These data are necessary for the improvement or public amenities and services.

"If, for example, an e-hailing service wanted to expand their services in an area, they will look at the data. This is why the census survey asks questions regarding access to public transportation and time taken to get to work.

"Is there a dire need in certain areas to have ERL and LRT services? Do you need schools closer to your home? The data lets us know," he explained.

The data also allows the right services and businesses to be provided in an area, he said.

"If a private clinic is looking to open in a certain area, it will look at the data on the population there. It there is a high number of elderly people living in the area, the clinic might decide to provide specialised geriatric services.

"So yes, the data will help policy makers and the corporate sector, but it will also hugely benefit civil society," he said.

Census data is collected every 10 years. As of March 15, a total of 11.8 million of Malaysia's 32.7 million have been enumerated in Census 2020.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia expects the exercise to be fully completed by June this year, with a total of 6,500 experienced and skilled enumerators mobilised nationwide to conduct the face-to-face interviews.