Collecting data no easy job

Close shave: Azlin Muhamad Hudri says one memorable experience was when an ambulance came to pick up her respondent, who was a close contact of a Covid-19 patient, to the hospital.

PETALING JAYA: Facing hostile residents, being mistaken for scammers or being threatened by a mentally unsound man – it’s all in a day’s work for the 9,000-member team tasked with conducting door-to-door surveys at millions of homes for the Malaysia Population and Housing Census.

For Jennie Chiang Huey Yuan, 25, who has been with the Statistics Department’s short-term employment programme (MyStep) since last year, entering high-end condos remains a challenge even with the permit she has from the authorities.