Reconsider ombudsman plan

CHIEF Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan has on several occasions spoken of the Government’s commitment to provide first-class public service.

He has always reminded civil servants to rise to the challenge of meeting the nation’s expectations and demands of a satisfactory level of public service delivery.

Sidek has stated the Government has adopted “One Service, One Delivery, No Wrong Door” as its tagline, with a pledge to provide first class public service.

The Malaysian public generally recognise that our civil service has served the country well in contributing to national development and improving their quality of life.

However there is much more that can be accomplished by civil servants to achieve excellence, transparency and accountability.

For an efficient delivery system to succeed we need an effective monitoring system to monitor and provide effective redress to public complaints and grievances.

In this connection, I wish to suggest to the new Najib Administration to seriously consider the introduction of an Ombudsman to check all forms of maladministration and address these effectively.

The proposal had been raised by me in the past but it was not accepted by the Government on the ground that its role is now being performed by the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB).

In my view the PCB in its present form cannot substitute for an Ombudsman with wide investigative powers and authority to decide.

TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE