Govt plans unified ombudsman model to enhance public complaints resolution, Dewan Rakyat told

Chan Wai Kit
·2-min read
Malay Mail
Malay Mail

KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — The government is considering creating a unique model of Ombudsman Malaysia that combines the Public Complaints Bureau and the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC), the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran said that the government is committed to establishing Ombudsman Malaysia as an independent body to receive and address complaints related to the federal public service delivery system.

He said that the proposal to establish Ombudsman Malaysia was presented at the Law and Institutional Reform Agenda Implementation Committee Meeting on April 29, where it was decided that a holistic engagement session would be held for three months to determine the mechanism for its establishment.

“This decision was also agreed upon in the Cabinet meeting on June 12. The process of appointing committee members from each involved agency for the engagement session is now underway.

“This engagement session is important to ensure that the views and needs of all stakeholders are transparently and comprehensively taken into account for the benefit of the people and the country,” he said in reply to a question from Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman (PN-Sik) regarding the latest plans to enact the Malaysian Ombudsman Act.

Meanwhile, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said that his ministry would study the suitability of provisions on personal data protection in the draft Data Sharing (Omnibus) Bill.

He said that the proposal to enact the Data Sharing (Omnibus) Act, expected this year, was still in the stage of setting the main principles.

“The proposed Data Sharing Bill aims to regulate data sharing between agencies in the public sector, and it is still in the stage of setting its main policy principles.

“The ministry is aware of the need to prevent any misuse of personal data when data is shared between agencies,” he said.

He said this in response to a question from William Leong Jee Keen (PH-Selayang), who wanted to know if the ministry planned to include provisions on personal data protection in the Omnibus bill to prevent misuse of personal data by the government. — Bernama

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