KUCHING: Residents in the Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) areas are urged to cooperate fully with the enumerators deployed by the State Statistics Department to carry out ‘The Population & Housing Census’ via face-to-face interviews.
MPP chairman Lo Khere Chiang said the interviews would commence on Aug 16 and last until Oct 31 after several postponements due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
“The State Disaster Management (SDMC) has given the approval for the face-to-face census activities to be carried out in strict compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as wearing of double face masks and practising of physical distancing by the enumerators.
“With this, I have the assurance from the State Statistic Department that enumerators, while on duties, will carry along with them their identification cards issued by the department.
“They will carry out their duties in pairs and the census will be carried out seven days a week, including public holidays, from morning until late afternoon (around 5pm to 7pm),” he added.
Lo further explained that the late afternoon hours were for the convenience of the office workers who only came back home from work.
“Normally, the census interviews will only take about 15 minutes and the enumerators can conduct their interviews at the gates if the house owners are reluctant to open the gates.
“In the event that the house owners are not at home, the enumerators will issue a Letter of Re-Visit seeking for a new date for the census.
“If the house owners doubt the identities of the enumerators, they can always call the State Statistic Department for verification. All particulars gathered are strictly confidential and solely for data compilation,” he said.
Lo said that it was vital for the government to gather adequate and accurate data through census not only to identify the population’s demographic and socio-economic characteristics but more importantly, to determine how the government funding would be spent across the country.
“The data gathered will help identify areas that are lacking, especially in public services and infrastructures, to assist government and local authorities to make plans to meet the needs of the areas.
“In short, the population and housing data is very important for the government to formulate policies for the well-being of the nation and to ensure that every plan meets the needs of the target groups and no one is left out,” he added.
For any enquiry, the general public can call the Operations Room of the State Statistic Department from 8am to 1pm through the following lines: 082-203994/ 082-230604.
