Government mulls web portal for policy feedback
By Lisa J. Ariffin, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — A web portal for the public to freely provide feedback and criticisms of government policies may soon be set up.
“This web portal enables the general public to voice their opinions, ideas and criticisms towards government policies. It can also be a means for people to voice out aspirations and expectations of the ruling government,” Deputy Minister of Information, Communications and Culture Datuk Maglin D’Cruz (picture) said today of his initiative.
“I believe by allowing the people to share their dreams for the country, we will be able to get more input from the ground level where all Malaysians can be heard and policies tailor-made to suit our time and our diverse culture and ethnicities in line with creating a truly 1 Malaysia,” he added.
A poll entitled “Should we have a channel (web portal) to express our opinion freely without fear?” will be set up to gauge the response of people to the initiative.
When asked whether the poll is needed, D’ Cruz said, “We want to see how many people will accept this. We just don’t want to open something and it’s just a doormat. We want to make it effective.”
“Like when the government wants to implement something, we will always ask the people first. We cannot just implement it.”
D’Cruz said the web portal will be different from other online forums as the ministry will contact the relevant authorities and agencies to convey any concerns raised by Malaysians.
“Now they are voicing out but there is nobody attending to them. So the group is getting bigger and bigger,” he said.
