Need for an ombudsman system
03/11/2006 The Star By VICTOR TAN, Subang Jaya.

I AM bored with all the negative reports I read about local councils and government agencies daily.

Every week there seems to be a new revelation about corruption, bureaucratic delays and clear ineptitude among public officials.

I am sure solutions have been proposed to resolve this problem, including having an ombudsman in every government department and local council.

However, the ombudsman proposal was rejected by the Cabinet, which felt that it was not suitable for our country, “Cabinet 'no' to ombudsman” (The Star, June 27).

To quote Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok: “A suitable concept that suits the nation's administrative system would be adopted by the Public Complaints Bureau in efforts to turn the bureau into an effective and reliable public complaints management organisation.”

So the onus on monitoring government agencies and local councils has fallen in the hands of the Public Complaints Bureau.

An ombudsman system does not necessarily preclude the Public Complaints Bureau, but rather complements it.

While I am fully behind the Public Complaints Bureau, I wish to point out that a centralised government machinery can only do so much when it comes to investigating abuses that happen all over the country.

To be fully effective, an ombudsman who is impartial and knowledgeable must be placed in every public institution.

It will ensure complaints are heard and acted upon, rather than dismissed as poison-pen letters as happens so often when we complain about the Government.

A good ombudsman will go that extra step, acting on his own initiative to improve the government institution even in the absence of public complaints.

This will reaffirm the Prime Minister's calls for greater transparency and improve efficiency and accountability at all levels.