Guangdong move toward openness
Zhu Mingguo, CPC Guangdong provincial commission for discipline inspection's secretary, recently asked Party cadres in local government bodies to immediately report for which organizations and where their family members worked. This definitely opens a door to transparent supervision, says an article in Yangtse Evening Post. Excerpt:
Zhu Mingguo, secretary of CPC Guangdong provincial commission for discipline inspection, triggered a public debate recently by announcing that all Party cadres in the local government have to report which organizations and where their family members worked.
Some critics say the move would do more harm than good because some people, who try to bribe high-rank officials to curry favor but can't find the right way, will now get a chance to do so by walking up to their relatives. This will open the door to corruption, they allege.
This premise, however, is illogical. Was it very difficult for someone who wanted to bribe an official to find out where his/her spouse or children worked even before the order was passed? Officials have hidden the information on their family for years but has that lessened corruption?
Moreover, not only immediate family members, but some officials' fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law also have their fingers in dirty pies.
Such corrupt practices go on when common people have difficulty in reaching even one of the officials. As a result, keeping officials' family details a secret won't make it harder for them to take bribes.
On the contrary, officials' family members will be under public scrutiny if information on their workplaces is known, and a potential briber will raise eyebrows when he/she approaches them.
In other words, making public the information on the workplaces of all government officials' family members will open the door to better supervision.
(China Daily 10/20/2009 page9)
