Proposal: Citizens’ Eyes Portal for Monitoring Local Government Performance
By Stephen Ng A. Introduction 1. Local government, as the third tier of governance, plays a pivotal role in shaping the daily lives of citizens. 2. Its responsibilities include the maintenance of public infrastructure, waste management, provision of amenities such as streetlights and traffic signals, and the construction of pedestrian bridges across busy roads. 3. Failure to deliver these services directly diminishes the quality of life of the community. 4. Monitoring local councils is, however, a complex task. Councils often assert their autonomy, and unlike in the past—when newspapers such as Malay Mail and Star Metro regularly highlighted local issues—today’s mechanisms for accountability are limited. 5. Effective oversight must therefore be a collective effort, involving both citizens and resident associations. The Citizens’ Eyes Portal is proposed as a structured platform to achieve this oversight. B. Mechanism of the Portal Layers of Complaints The portal ...
