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Turnaround time for handling complaints now reduced

The Public Complaints Bureau (PCB), Prime Minister’s Department would like to refer to the letter Public Complaints Bureau dragging its feet .

First and foremost, I wish to thank the writer for highlighting some of the unpleasant experiences in dealing with PCB. In the letter, the complainant claimed that cases were closed without first informing the complainant about it.

In this regard, I hope that the complainant can contact me directly ([email protected]) and provide me details of the cases so that appropriate actions can be taken against the officers involved.

I would like to reiterate here that before a case is closed, the PCB will send a letter to the complainant informing about the decision of the case. In this letter, it is also stated that the complainant has seven days to forward any objections to the PCB before the case is formally closed.

If the complainant is still dissatisfied with the decision or action taken by the agency and provides adequate information to support his position, PCB can bring the matter to be decided by the Permanent Committee on Public Complaints which is chaired by the chief secretary to the government.

Alternatively, the complainant can also bring the matter to be decided by the court.

In the letter, the writer also highlighted the need for PCB to be open, transparent and keep the complainant updated. I would like to inform the complainant that whenever we receive feedback from the respective agencies, we will immediately update the complainant unless the information is classified as confidential.

There is no reason for the PCB to withhold that information since our main objective is to help resolve the complaint in a prompt, fair and courteous manner. Furthermore, all PCB officers are constantly reminded to follow-up closely with the respective agencies regarding the status of their unresolved cases so that we can achieve more speedy resolutions.

As with regards to the time taken to resolve a complaint, I also wish to clarify that before Feb 24, 2009, the turnaround time to resolve a complaint was 41 working days and this was reduced to 15 working days with the issue of the Development Administration Circular No. 1 of 2009.

Within this time frame, the agencies are required to provide feedback to PCB within five working days. The three working days that was highlighted by the complainant was actually the time taken previously for issuing the Acknowledgment Letter, which is now reduced to within 24 hours under the new circular. Therefore, the question of PCB being retrogressive is quite inaccurate.

Lastly, we would like to invite the public to forward their complaints and grievances on public service delivery to us via our website or via our telephone number 03-8872 5777.

The writer is director-general, Public Complaints Bureau, Prime Minister’s Department.

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