Why the status quo won't do
Hu Xiaoyan now understands why few national policymakers make their phone numbers public.
Months ago, Hu, the first "nongmin gong", or migrant worker, to join the National People's Congress (NPC) was widely lauded for making her personal contact information public. She vowed to listen to migrant workers and make sure their concerns were heard.
But she had little choice but to eat her words and has turned her mobile phone off.
Since making her declaration, she received hundreds of calls and phone messages every day. Sometimes, she could hardly sleep.
"I am not the savior of nongmin gong. I am just an ordinary woman worker," she pleaded.
Of course she is not "ordinary"; she is an NPC deputy.
But she would have to be Superwoman to manage the flood of calls she receives. If there is any mistake she has made, it was underestimating the requirements that would come with fulfilling the commitment she made. Currently, there are 200 million migrant workers in the country.
It is not fair to place all the burden on Hu's shoulders.
We have trade unions. We have various government agencies charged with resolving labor disputes or caring for workers' welfare.
And if these bodies are unable to fulfill their responsibilities, we even have - pardon my conjecture - 2,986 other NPC deputies. Why then only hone in on Hu Xiaoyan?
"If I received every incoming call personally, even 10 Hu Xiaoyans would not be enough," Hu said.
Surely, that's true. The question then becomes, if she is the kind of lawmaker people want to speak to, why do we not have more Hu Xiaoyans in the NPC?
* * *
True losers blame their shortcomings on others. We have seen plenty of big, corrupt officials dumping dirty water on bribers.
The confession of Yan Dabin, former transport bureau chief of a county in Chongqing municipality, followed the very same formula.
He remained an upright public servant, until he made the wrong friends and accepted 22.26 million yuan in bribes from them.
The all-too-commonplace blame game aside, Yan did bring up a topic worth considering. Officials should indeed thoughtfully consider whom it is they are befriending.
In the notorious dam burst case in Shanxi province, helpless locals had to look on while the mining company operated with disregard for safety rules.
"Zhang Peiliang (the man in charge of the company) has money. Who dares interfere?" the villagers said. What does that mean? Does he have a "friend" in the local government?
Investigators have talked about the cover-up in the Sanlu case. And the local government is said to have known part of the truth before the crisis fully blossomed. Was "friendship" a factor there?
* * *
It's too bad for those planning to cheat in the upcoming qualifying examinations for master's degree programs that the Ministry of Education is determined to get tough this time.
Cheating on this round of exams will not only result in the invalidation of offenders' scores but would also bar them from taking the exams next year.
This might seem unfair in the sense that those caught cheating last year did not have to pay such a penalty. But we should still feel grateful that at least the ministry has put a dead end in front of cheaters.
The dishonest can still try their luck, and the worst that would happen to them is they would be disqualified for a year - just one year, not five or more.
It's also worth noting they are spending more money and time upgrading monitoring capabilities in the exam room rather than ordering a reasonably affordable ban. And we can be sure, there will always be those clever enough to outfox official surveillance contractors.
(China Daily 09/19/2008 page8)
