The Government of Malaysia is crowdsourcing ideas for its 2015 Budget, which will be tabled on 10th October.

Hosted on the Malaysian prime minister’s personal website is a platform that allows citizens to make suggestions and vote on a range of topics including public service, youth and sports, health and public safety.

Suggestions in the public service category include “making open and machine readable the new default for government information”; a unified project management tool for government procurement - to enable citizens to monitor tenders and hold officials to account; and for agencies to print in black and white to save money.

The website allows users to click a like button, or a dislike button, on other citizens’ suggestions. One of the most popular suggestions in the public service category was to do more to put government services online, and there were a number of suggestions for better government websites, greater interaction on Facebook, and a one-stop portal for all government activities.

Another popular suggestion in this category was to improve the architecture of government buildings so that they add greater value to towns and cities. “Public service buildings have to be friendly, approachable, safe and beautiful. Architecture needs to play a big part in this, and architects need to produce better designed buildings,” one citizen said.

In the public safety category, the most popular suggestion was to make it mandatory for every new car to be fixed with front and rear video recorders to facilitate investigation of traffic accidents and reduce disputes.

Meanwhile, in the youth and sports category, the most popular proposal was to ban everyone under the age of 21 from entering discos and nightclubs. “This will reduce the abuse of illegal drug and moral problem,” the commenter wrote.

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak welcomed the proposals and said that they would be considered in the Budget planning process. “I have always maintained that the era of ‘government knows best’ is over. Your ideas, your concerns and your needs will be considered when drawing up an inclusive, balanced and fiscally responsible 2015 budget. The contributions we have already received show Malaysians – young and old – working with the government to develop inclusive policies that benefit everyone.”

In Singapore, the government launched an online forum after the announcement of the 2014 Budget to gather feedback.