Keeping faith

On the very first day the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) activated its new hotline and updated website for reporting abuses of power, there was a deluge of clues.

The website - with a bandwidth that allows 1,000 people to simultaneously report suspected abuse by public servants - broke down due to heavy traffic. There were far too many clicks than it had been designed to handle, said SPP sources. And the hotline received more than 1,800 calls on Monday.

What do we see here? Signs that people care. They want to see injustice remedied, and officials guilty of abuse held accountable. And, they have the hope, if not the confidence, that the clues they provide may help, should the authorities be serious about bringing offenders to account. These are invaluable advantages to begin with, and we hope the SPP can truly appreciate the public response and respect the expectations that are evident.