Government addresses public complaints

Here’s a story for the comments section. Got a complaint? The government is listening… probably. The Cabinet recently addressed the complaints submitted by the public and feedback submitted to state agencies and enterprises during the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year. And while it often feels like complaints to higher authorities fall on deaf ears, the government claim that 84% of complaints received last quarter have been addressed.

Deputy Government Spokesperson Traisulee Trisaranakul also announced that, in order to enhance public services and improve complaints handling in the future, the Office of the Prime Minister has proposed a plan. The office will coordinate with relevant agencies to improve the system.

Last year, from October 1 to December 31, nearly 14,500 complaints were received through available channels. That number is actually about 1,000 lower than in the fourth quarter of last year.

About 12,100 of those complaints have already been resolved, representing 84% of the total received. The remaining 16% are now in the process of being handled by the relevant agencies involved.

So, who is everyone complaining about? The government spokesperson listed the top five government agencies that received the most complaints from the public, with the police topping the list:

1. Royal Thai Police
2. Ministry of Transport
3. Ministry of Finance
4. Ministry of Public Health
5. Ministry of Education

Separately, enterprises run by the state received complaints and feedback from the public, with the lottery, electricity, and transportation in the crosshairs. The Government Lottery Office got the most complaints of any state enterprise, followed by the Provincial Electricity Authority and the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority.

Most of the complaints were for standard recurring problems. Things like noise from neighbouring restaurants or people driving loud motorcycles through the area. And those seem often to be the hardest to resolve.

Governmental agencies and state enterprises have been requested to take a proactive stance on problem-solving. They are advised to analyse the data from situations and keep an eye on public concerns in order to create databases, procedures, and systematic solutions to resolve future complaints.

The Office of the Prime Minister identified that the thing that makes the public most frustrated in complaint resolution is a slow response time. They called on the relevant agencies to prioritise speedy attention to complaints and focus on creating a problem-solving time frame where the public can be informed on progress.