Don't worship govt officials
A thank you letter written by a student to a local Party leader indicates that China is lacking sufficient civic education, says an article in Yangtze Evening Post. The following is an excerpt:
A local media report said a primary school student recently wrote a letter to the Party secretary of Jieyang city, Guangdong province, praising him for his leadership in dealing with a polluted river.
As the letter said, "my dad told me you led the team in person to treat the polluted river and now I'm happy it's so clean. So, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
This report was in fact meant to sing the praises of local officials. As it said, the polluted Rongjiang River was cleaned up after a special team led by Party Secretary Chen Hongping was formed earlier this year. No doubt, writing the report from the angle of the child's letter not only added "readability" to the story itself, but also made it appear less like government propaganda, but it made for a worrying read.
First, treating the polluted river is what the authorities should do anyway and it has nothing to do with personal credit. If we really want to thank somebody, we should thank everyone involved in this work. We can clearly see traces of personal worship from the letter written by this child. Chen should reply to the student, refusing the credit given to him.
In fact, citizens should only monitor government negligence and inaction. There is no need for them to write thank you letters either to the Party secretary or related government departments if they are just doing what they are supposed to do. What the local government has done is simply bring the river back to its normal status.
It is without doubt that we should thank those who have helped us, and relations between the government and the people should be harmonious. But in today's modern world, there is no need to regard local leaders like officials in a feudal society where people deemed them parents, worshipping and thanking them if they were able to care for them.
From this letter, we find that China lacks the necessary civic education.
(China Daily 09/24/2008 page8)
