Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said
PUTRAJAYA: Civil servants, including department heads, will soon come under the scrutiny of the Ombudsmen if they slack off in managing the delivery system for the rakyat, says Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
This comes on the heels of plans to introduce and approve a Bill in Parliament later this year to set up an independent watchdog to investigate public complaints against civil officials, department heads and government agencies.
“What is important is that the government, especially the Prime Minister, wants an alternative body that is open to taking complaints.
“We want the rakyat to know that this government will react to their complaints.
“We do not want a situation where the government is right all the time, as we have to be honest about things,” the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Law and Institutional Reforms told reporters at a press conference at the Legal Affairs Bureau Office here yesterday.
She said the proposed Ombudsman will be an independent statutory body answerable to Parliament, unlike the Public Complaints Bureau, which comes under the Prime Minister’s Department.
“The Ombudsman will table its annual report in Parliament, which will be debated,” she said.
To ensure further independence, she said the Ombudsman will be headed by a person not from the civil service for a term of six years.
She added that personnel serving the Ombudsman will not be seconded from the civil service but appointed independently.
At present, Azalina said most public complaints about the delivery system are against agencies and local councils that deal directly with the public.
“My view is that we must have an Ombudsman that looks at agencies that deal with the public.
“If it is an agency that doesn’t deal with the public, then it can be dealt with internally.
“But one of the biggest problems is the local councils, which people are not happy with,” she said.
She said this includes instances where letters of complaint are ignored and shelved.
“Some 85% of the about 20,000 complaints lodged with the Public Complaints Bureau annually are usually those against the local councils, which deal extensively with the public,” she said.
Among the more frequent complaints, she said, are those dealing with street lights, garbage collection, maintenance of drains and parking issues.
Azalina added that the Ombudsman will be given investigative powers, including making recommendations on disciplinary action to be taken against public servants, their respective heads or departments.
“The Ombudsman can give recommendations on what sort of disciplinary action should be taken against an officer or an agency with regard to the maladministration that has taken place,” she said.
She added that the respective agencies will have to report back to the Ombudsman on the action taken within a given time frame.
Simple complaints, according to Azalina, must be answered within a certain time frame, freeing the government from being accused of making “empty promises” while dealing with delivery system difficulties.
Azalina said the proposed draft of the Bill is ready but needs some amendments with regard to policy matters.
She said engagements will be held with relevant stakeholders on the proposed law before it is submitted to the Cabinet for approval.
She added that the Bill will be tabled in Parliament during its year-end meeting this coming October.
In 2019, the then Pakatan Harapan administration mooted the creation of the Ombudsman following calls for an independent body to investigate complaints against maladministration.
The proposed laws were drafted in 2021 by the subsequent government but were not tabled in Parliament last year as anticipated.
