OMBUDSMAN FOR AGGRIEVED CITIZENS

AFTER having taken their oaths of office, a few key ministers reported for duty to discharge their ministerial duties.

I believe the newly-appointed ministers need to be given a reasonable time to put their houses in order, meeting secretariesgeneral and heads of the agencies and departments under their ministries for briefings before they get down to work.

Ministers’ roles are to give policy directions, instructions, ideas and suggestions to the ministries to administer the country and take it to greater heights as well as to fulfil the pledges in their parties’ election manifesto.

Civil servants need to serve the people and the government with commitment, trust and integrity to ensure the success of the ministries’ goals.

Ultimately, it is civil servants who have to deliver what is needed by the ministers and achieve the desired goals.

The Council of Eminent Persons announced the formation of the Committee on Institutional Reforms to assist the newlyformed Pakatan Harapan government on economic and financial matters.

I agree with the council’s statement that without institutional reforms, economic reforms on their own would not bring meaningful change.

Now that the new government has also decided to emphasise improving service delivery and fighting corruption, the time has come for the Public Complaints Bureau to be upgraded and an ombudsman system be set up to address public grievances against public authorities.

As in Sweden or New Zealand, ombudsmen are government officials appointed to receive and investigate complaints by individuals against abuses or capricious acts of public officials.

Ombudsman is derived from the Swedish word meaning “grievance person” or “representative or agent of the people”.

It is also referred in the Oxford Dictionary as the “people’s defender” and he is appointed to safeguard the citizens against abuse or misuse of administrative power by executive.

They are a citizen’s friend and protector, entrusted to enquire into alleged wrongs inflicted on people by public authorities.

In the early 1970s, Malaysia had wanted to consider such a system and had studied the New Zealand ombudsman model with a view towards its implementation.

However, it was shelved and in its place, the public complaints bureau was set up.

We are now more open to such a concept as the ombudsman for financial services started operations on Oct 1, 2016.

Bank Negara had given its approval for the new body under the Financial Services Act 2013 and Islamic Financial Services Act 2013.

As an independent redress mechanism for financial consumers, it will provide a fair and efficient avenue for financial consumers to resolve disputes against financial service providers.

It is time for us to set up the ombudsman system, which will be more effective to deal with aggrieved citizens.

Under the system, the ombudsmen could either be appointed by the government or Parliament.

We look forward to see how this system could be implemented to bring about the institutional reforms that would make government institutions independent and professional.

Before this, many quarters had complained about the shortcomings of such institutions, including the Election Commission, police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Under the new administration, more efforts should be made to reduce red tape and improve administrative efficiency in government departments and agencies.

In this connection, the setting up of an ombudsman system will address grievances against departments and agencies.

As society progresses, the public are more conscious of their rights and expect better performance from civil servants.

The time has come for departments, agencies and public authorities to strive for zero complaints.