MBSA’s enforcement team together with Fire and Rescue Department personnel inspecting a site to follow up on a public complaint where a fire hydrant was paved over.
EARLIER this year, residents in Cheras went public with their complaints about long-standing issues which they claimed had not been attended to for years.
However, it turned out the residents had not lodged official reports with the local authority, citing their poor language skills and unfamiliarity with online complaint channels as the reasons.
Residents of Taman Bukit Angsana, Cheras, which falls under Kajang Municipal Council’s (MPKj) jurisdiction in Selangor, said their complaints were not attended to.
CLICK TO ENLARGEMPKj councillor Dickson Tan, who visited the area, learned that instead of complaining to the council, residents had sent their grievances to an app without any links to MPKj.
That was when he found out that no complaints were received from the area in the past two years.Taman Putra Prima Fasa 2 Residents Association (TPP2 RA) immediate past chairperson Terence Choong said residents should, as far as possible, lodge complaints directly instead of going through a third party including their area councillor or assemblyman.
“Residents have a right to complain, otherwise the local council know would not know about an area’s problems. But they should learn how to do it through the proper channels,” he said.
Citing his experience with Sepang Municipal Council (MPSepang), Choong said he brought up the issue of faulty traffic lights near Taman Puchong Tekali in person.
“Not only was it resolved on the same day, the council even gave me a photocopy of the complaint form,” he related.
Bukit Damansara House Owners Association vice-president Ravi Markandu said he had never encountered rudeness when making complaints to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).
He added that the quality of work and materials for infrastructure repairs had generally been good, and he was satisfied with the response time too.
Section 5 Petaling Jaya Residents Association immediate past president Ben Thompson also had good things to say about his city council.
He said that in March, Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) responded to the community’s request for an online learning session for residents and neighbourhood associations on the eAduan system.
However, some residents have found that while online channels and apps developed to receive complaints are quite user-friendly, the response time can still be slow.
Thompson said there was a need for MBPJ to come up with a better answer than “the problem requires a long-term solution.”
“If no immediate action can be taken for whatever reasons, a realistic timeline should be given and if there are delays, the complainant should be informed,” he said.
Seri Selangor Public Housing Residents Association chairman Zaimi Shamsuri said double parking was a common problem in public housing areas.
“DBKL’s tow unit is often called in when residents find their cars blocked by other vehicles.
“A report could be sent in the morning but the tow truck might only arrive in the evening,” he said.
But Zaimi said this situation was understandable as DBKL had a limited number of trucks on standby at any given time.
Subang Jaya resident Yee Chee Hong, who lives in Jalan SS13/A, said there was a lack of supervision by local councils when external contractors were hired to carry out rectification works.
“For tree trimming work near my flats, residents were unhappy when the work was not done by the date promised.
“But they were even more unhappy with the quality of the work,” said Yee.
Local councils respond
From Jan 1 to Sept 14, DBKL received 20,318 complaints through various channels.
In a statement, DBKL urged the public to check first if the grievances were within its jurisdiction because issues like rubbish collection should be referred to Alam Flora while vagrants fall under the Welfare Department’s purview. (See list on right)
From Jan 1 to Aug 22, DBKL rejected 2,383 complaints as names, addresses and contact numbers were missing.
“Images referencing the alleged problems were also not provided,” said DBKL’s Corporate Planning Department which handles such complaints.
It said 17 employees were assigned to carry out this task, while the key performance indicator set for the response and solution to each complaint was 14 days.
However, more complex situations may take longer, said the department’s media unit in a statement to StarMetro.
“DBKL takes a dynamic approach when managing public complaints, through coordination between its 25 departments.
“We adhere to the ‘Improving Public Complaint Management’ general circular issued by the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM) on Feb 16.”
The statement said DBKL had developed an in-house software maintained by its Information Management Department.
To date, some RM1mil had been allocated for periodic maintenance and updates to the system since it was set up in 2011.
DBKL is now in the midst of coming up with the second version of its Adu@KL due by May 2023.
It is an adaptation of the Public Complaint Management System (Sispaa) developed by the Public Complaints Bureau (BPA) under JPM.
DBKL has 12 channels in total to handle complaints from the people, including a hotline which is reachable every day including weekends and public holidays, as well as the Adu@KL website.
There are also channels for people to report issues ranging from potholes to traffic congestion.
There is even a dedicated line for residents in public and low-cost housing units to report maintenance problems.
However, DBKL said it planned to phase out the number of landline-based complaint channels to focus on online services.
Putrajaya Corporation (PPj) Corporate Communication Department director Norzita Abdul Razak said it received 923 complaints from Jan 1 to Sept 18.
She stressed that complaints should be directed to the appropriate agencies as issues such as water cuts and leaky pipes should go to Air Selangor while Indah Water Konsortium handled sewerage systems in housing and commercial areas. (See graphics on left)
“However, PPj has a ‘no wrong door’ policy.
“This means, complaints involving an external agency will be channelled to the relevant party either through Sispaa or email.
“Our follow-up involves cross references with the relevant ministry or department to ensure cases are genuine,” said Norzita.
PPj has six official channels to receive public complaints.
A team of five, parked under the customer service unit of the department, has been assigned to monitor these channels including those received via social media.
All complaints received by PPj are activated, channelled, solved and closed through Sispaa which is managed by BPA but maintained under PPj’s budget.
Trainers are sent by BPA to conduct sessions and refresher courses on the system’s usage.
A team of nine staff working on a shift basis, man the 24-hour Putrajaya Command Centre that has been specially designated for emergencies.
PPj also activated a WhatsApp group known as Precinct Rangers on July 7, and there are over 500 participants in the group.
Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) received 11,656 complaints between January and Sept 19.
It currently has two main channels to receive complaints, MPS Corporate Department director Mohamad Zin Masoad said.
“One is the Selangor people’s online complaint system (Stars) and the other is Sispaa Selangor.
“Stars is an internal system developed by MPS and is maintained by our Information Technology Department.
“However, we aim to utilise Sispaa Selangor fully by 2023,” said Mohamad Zin.
“The advantage in the latter system is that it will be monitored by the State Secretariat.
“This allows for the easy channelling of public complaints to other agencies and local councils,” he said.
This way, MPS will also be able to fully embrace the “no wrong door” policy, he added.
The local council has been channelling complaints to the relevant agencies where needed.
MPS has eight other channels that are manned by two staff from the Corporate Department to receive public complaints, including from its social media pages.
For emergencies like fallen trees, slope collapse, floods and matters that require immediate action from the enforcement team, there is the Pantas unit under the Enforcement and Safety Department.
Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) Corporate and Public Relations Division head Shahrin Ahmad said it had six channels including a hotline and a counter, manned by eight staff under his division, to handle public complaints.
The i-Responz system is the most popular channel, having received 21,191 complaints from Jan 1 until Sept 15. Meanwhile, MBSA’s iAdu app received 4,860 complaints from January to mid September.
MPKj relies on Sispaa and the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s iTegur app to attend to public complaints.
MBSA’s enforcement team together with Fire and Rescue Department personnel inspecting a site to follow up on a public complaint where a fire hydrant was paved over.
DBKL enforcement personnel taking action following public complaints against those illegally reserving parking spaces with tyres, cones and other items in Wangsa Maju.
Putrajaya Corporation officers visiting the Sarawak Public Communication Unit to observed how the Sispaa system is run there.
Putrajaya Corporation's enforcement unit acting on a public complaint against a shopowner for obstructing a pathway with gas cylinders in Precinct 8.
Thompson says a common response that problems require long-term solutions is insufficient.
Ravi is generally happy with DBKL’s service and response to public complaints.
Choong says residents should lodge complaints themselves with the relevant authorities.
