Tourists visit Neak Pean Temple in Siem Reap on January 1. Hong Menea
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has advised ministry officials to create an official list of problems within the ministry and prepare solutions for them.
He made the remarks while leading a meeting on Tuesday to review the ministry’s General Secretariat 2020 action plan at the Council of Ministers in Phnom Penh. The meeting was attended by secretaries and under-secretaries of state, the inspector general, director- generals, deputy police chiefs and relevant officials.
“[We] must gather the issues concerning the ministry and solve them, no matter where they come from. We must not leave any matters behind,” he said.
He cited various complaints from the ministry level, the sub-national level, administrative units and the National Police force units concerning irregularities in management.
He said the problems will be solved by the inspector general in collaboration with the general departments involved in each matter.
He suggested using the media as a way to bring the problems to light.
“We can gather information partially on media and social media. Some pieces of information from these sources are true and we must not overlook them,” he said.
The minister noted that he had received many public suggestions and complaints on his Facebook page.
He said some of the problems referenced by the public have been solved, while others had been sent to relevant units but remained unsolved.
He said he expects each unit to heed public criticisms and bring the situation under control.
Inspection and audit groups, he said, must refrain from being bias while investigating issues.
“Officials who receive state salaries must adhere to the principle that they serve the people with a spirit of responsibility. They must put national interests first and then they can avert inaction, irregularities and injustice,” he said.
The minister added that the Tuesday meeting was part of an effort to implement public administration reforms and that this was the first time the ministry created action plans for each of its units.
The deputy director of monitoring at rights group Licadho Am Sam Ath welcomed the move.
“Some cases and problems submitted to the ministry have been solved but the local authorities couldn’t solve all of them.
“Sometimes, cases are buried, creating a backlog that frustrates the public. We have seen citizens protesting to demand solutions as they have lost confidence in the authorities,” he said.
