Google has revealed the top ten most trending searches last month in Malaysia, and perhaps rather unsurprisingly the rakyat were curious about PADU the most. Pangkalan Data Utama (PADU) went live at the start of the year, and the new central database hub made plenty of headlines as well as raised a lot more questions from Malaysians all over the country.
PADU, in the unlikely case you haven’t heard by now, is the government’s new integrated socio-economic database implemented by the Ministry of Economy, the Department of Statistics (DOSM) and the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit. It’s part of the government’s goal to centralise data and information of Malaysians, consolidating the data from various different ministries and agencies under one roof.
As is typically the case with the rollout of any major initiative by the government, people were asking plenty of questions such as who’s eligible, is it compulsory and what is it even for. We’ve already covered PADU quite extensively so you can click here for more details, but basically it is open to all Malaysian citizens and permanent residents aged over 18, and you’ll have until 31 March to check, verify and update the information in PADU. It’s not compulsory to do so, but doing so will make it easier for the government to decide if you’re eligible for aid and subsidy programmes from the government or not.
Of course, PADU wasn’t the only thing people were looking up on Google Search last month. January also saw plenty of sports fans looking up everything from badminton, football and even tennis, with sport dominating the top 10 most trending on Google Search list. Some surprise entrants here though was the K-drama Badland Hunters and the Chinese comedy series My Boss.
Here’s the full top 10 list of trending Google searches in Malaysia in January 2024:
- 1. PADU
- 2. Indonesia Masters 2024
- 3. Bahrain vs Malaysia / Japan vs Indonesia / AFC Asian Cup
- 4. India Open 2024
- 5. Al Hilal vs Inter Miami
- 6. FIFA 2024 Rankings
- 7. Australian Open
- 8. Badland Hunters
- 9. My Boss
- 10. Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal
