Thai Local Officials Visit Suwon to Benchmark Saebit Taktok Platform

[Suwon Ilbo=Correspondent Jung Jun-seong] Thai local officials visited Suwon Special Metropolitan City to benchmark the mobile civic participation platform 'Saebit Taktok'.

Officials from government and basic local government offices in five Thai provinces including Chiang Rai, Sakon Nakhon, Pattani, Amnat Charoen, and Narathiwat—33 officials in total—along with 2 officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior, and approximately 10 USAID exchange delegation staff members, totaling over 40 people, attended a briefing on Saebit Taktok at the auditorium of Suwon Hwaseong Museum on the 25th and inspected the museum and Hwaseong Palace.

The Thai officials who visited Suwon came as the 'USAID Enhance Citizen-Centered Governance Exchange Delegation.' The 'USAID Enhance' program, operated by the USAID Asia-Pacific Regional Office (Bangkok, Thailand), is a capacity-building program that learns from and shares innovative cases of citizen participation in local administration.

Saebit Taktok, which officially began service on July 1 last year, is an online civic square where citizens participate and communicate. When policy ideas are proposed on the 'Citizen Proposals' bulletin board, other citizens express their opinions on the ideas through comments and hold discussions. Ideas that gain consensus from many citizens are reviewed by relevant departments and can be executed as policies if adopted.

The platform currently has 70,000 registered users, 600,000 cumulative visitors, and 425 policy ideas proposed by citizens. Of these, 37 have been adopted as proposals after citizen discussions and departmental reviews. Ajou University's Department of Public Administration has also opened classes utilizing Saebit Taktok.

Settha Alphuree, the highest administrative official of Pattani Province, said, "It was impressive to see Suwon citizens participating in city administration through Saebit Taktok," and added, "It would be good if Thai local governments consider adopting it."

Nils Mueller, director general of general development at the USAID Asia-Pacific Regional Office, stated, "Saebit Taktok focuses on ideas and technology," and said, "If Thai civil servants apply Suwon City's innovative cases to administration, they will achieve results."

Park Sa-seung, director of the Planning and Coordination Office of Suwon City, who offered opening remarks ahead of the Saebit Taktok briefing, said, "Saebit Taktok is Suwon City's core civic communication platform," and added, "We ensure that citizens can freely and conveniently participate in city administration, and excellent ideas are reflected in city policies."