A series of special committees were formed this week by government ministries after a letter from Prime Minister Hun Sen requested they begin monitoring his Facebook page for complaints from citizens that might be in their purview.

Ministry committee members reached yesterday described their new task as doing just that, a function observers criticised as being unlikely to improve government efficiency.

Ou Virak, founder of the Future Forum, criticised the committees as superfluous. “If Hun Sen told ministries they had to listen to people’s problems over the phone, would those ministries create phone-monitoring committees? Ministries should have been concerned with people’s problems long ago, but they don’t care. What they’re doing now is [for show],” he said.

Kem Ley, a social analyst, said that the committees could have some benefit to society if members took the job seriously, but he doubted they would.

Ministries establishing dedicated Facebook committees include the Ministry of Cults and Religion, the Ministry of Land Management and the Ministry of Justice, among others.