Miri has public complaints bureau...

Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) here has set up its own Bureau of Public Complaints and Services ala MCA's Datuk Michael Chong except with a difference.
"Where MCA is a one-man show, ours is a team of 31 party members led by youth chief Lawrence Lai. Our bureau is divided into three units that is the legal unit, the education unit and the public complaints unit. We have six lawyers in the bureau, " said the assistant minister of Infrastructure Development and Communication Lee Kim Shin.
He told this to reporters when he brought members of the bureau on a familiarization visit to the Miri Police District Headquarters yesterday.
Present during the visit were the Miri police chief ACP Jamaludin Ibrahim, his senior officers and Pujut assemblyman Andy Chia.
Lee said the bureau would assist the various government departments especially regarding public complaints.
"With the setting up of this bureau, we hope to facilitate public complaints in a more efficient way by disseminating the accurate information promptly. In this way, a lot of problems could be resolved and misunderstanding averted," said Lee.
In response, Jamaludin welcome the move by the bureau to work closely with the department saying effort to help the public would be more focused.
"Our department's role is to ensure security for everyone in Miri," said Jamaludin.
Lee requested a seminar be conducted for the bureau so that its members are knowledgeable on proper police procedures like making a police report and making a citizen's arrest.
Jamaludin also disclosed the department is currently looking for about 80 individuals to fill the post of police voluntary reserves.
"These police voluntary reserves would only do police work after office hours. Although the deadline have expired, we are opening it again because so far we have only received about 25 applications," said Jamaludin.
Also raised during the visit was the need for big supermarkets in the city to instal CCTV at their parking areas and if necessary at their shopping complexes to deter robberies.
Some members of the bureau also raised the need for a stronger and more visible police presence in busy shopping centres in the city because of late there had been cases of snatch thefts.
Jamaludin also advised kite flyers to take extra precaution when flying kites in residential areas.
"There had been reports of children chasing kites on the roads without regard to their safety. Altough there is no law against kite flying but action can be taken if it endangers public safety like getting in the way of aviation or get in the flight path of aeroplanes," said Jamaludin.ENDS.

Caption: 08-10bureau:COLLABORATION: Lee (seated third right). Jamaludin is second right. Chia is fourth right. Lai is at right.