In January, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng received 77 inquiries and requests from citizens through his personal Facebook page. So far, 11 of the cases have been resolved.
”In January, my team monitored the comments and suggestions that people wrote on my page . . . An additional 44 are very close to reaching a conclusion,” he said.
Sar Kheng said some requests were found to be outside the ministry’s jurisdiction and had been referred to the relevant institutions.
There were 655 outstanding cases from 2021, he added, but in January his team resolved 79 of them.
“This progress has been achieved thanks to the sterling efforts of the leaders and officials of the ministry and my Facebook working group,” he wrote.
He thanked the public for engaging with his page to work together and find solutions to problems outside of the court system. They were all working together to advance the development of Cambodia, he said.
The interior minister requested patience and understanding from those who had unresolved cases, saying that some procedures were complex and required more time than others.
Yong Kim Eng of the Peoples Centre for Development and Peace told The Post on February 27 that when the authorities are quick to resolve issues, whether through social media or more traditional avenues, they generally earn plaudits from the general public.
He said people who have suffered an injustice need to be able to access solutions as easily as possible. If resolutions are too slow in coming, they will criticise the authorities.
“By responding through Facebook, issues are addressed quickly. It means people do not feel like they are being passed around a complex bureaucracy just to have their problems heard,” he said.
