Chinese leaders should create awareness in their community on the importance of the national housing and population census to help the government develop the country.

Historian and academician Prof Khoo Kay Kim said the public, especially the Chinese community, should be convinced of the importance of the census through awareness programmes, as they lacked understanding of the issue.

"Apart from their non-participation in government programmes and local events, they still believed and were worried that the information they offered would be abused," he told Bernama here today.

He was commenting on a statement by Chief Statistician and Census Commissioner Wan Ramlah Wan Abd Raof on Aug 11, that 70 percent of the Chinese community were non-responsive to the census, claiming that they only spoke Mandarin and not Malay or English language.

Khoo said elected representatives should also play a role in conducting briefings for the people in their constituencies because without the census, it would be difficult for the government to plan for strategic development.

Khoo said enumerators had a tough time getting the Chinese community to answer the census questions not only because of the language barrier, but because the Chinese community, especially the elders, were worried about the motive of the enumerators.

"This means that language is not the problem. The real problem is that the Chinese community is still worried whether these enumerators have good or bad motives," he said.

Meanwhile, a literature lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Prof Lim Swee Tin, said language should not be a problem in the census as the enumerators were using simple questions.

There was nothing too technical that could really hamper residents from answering them, he said.

Lim said, based on the National Language Policy implemented by the education ministry in 1976, it was impossible for any Malaysian in their 30s to be unable to understand the Malay language.

"The issue of residents not being able to understand the questions should not arise unless those who were interviewed were old folks...that is possible.

"I find that the language used is easy and people-friendly. The Chinese community should understand that Malay language is the national language and as Malaysian citizens, they should be able to communicate in that language," he said.

He also called on the government to set up a one-stop centre for census, like voters' registration counters being set up in preparation for an election, to enable the residents to answer the census questions.

Lim also lauded Khoo's call on the leaders of Chinese community, as well as Chinese politicians, to get involved in educating the Chinese community on the importance of census.

The 2010 National Housing and Population Census has now entered its final phase which would end on Aug 22. The first phase was completed between July 6 and 22, while the second was conducted from July 23 and Aug 6.

- Bernama