Malaysia launches third complaint app for citizens

Malaysia is launching its third complaint app to facilitate complaints from citizens to its agencies.

Rakyat Responz promises real-time responses to issues submitted by the public, Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said.

“Each ministry, department and agency is given a 15-day period to resolve any complaints made”, he said. How public officials handle the complaints will be part of their key performance indicators, he added.

The Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) launched the app to help with the backlog of complaints received.

According to Datuk Harjeet Singh, Director-General of PCB, there were 6,388 complaints received in 2015, with 60.9 per cent of them directed against ministries and federal government agencies. The remaining 39 per cent were lodged against state government and local authorities.

Of the total complaints received in 2015, the largest share involved complaints against delayed actions, followed by enforcement failures, and then by unsatisfactory services, he said.

The app will soon launch across different mobile platforms, and will be available for download on a government website that pools all public sector apps together.

This app follows after the launch of Cakna and #BetterPenang. Cakna also addresses national complaints, while #BetterPenang offers complaint submissions for citizens in the state of Penang.

Elsewhere, Indonesia is taking a different approach to handling complaints. Instead of developing separate complaint apps, Qlue started out in Jakarta and soon rolled out to 12 other cities.

Qlue was built externally by a private start-up in Jakarta but has been adopted by government. Both Qlue and Rakyat Responz will draw performance indicators of their government officials, based on how they address citizens’ complaints.