Watchful eyes on govt

Of the many promises in Premier Wen Jiabao's government work report, the most impressive is the vow "to create conditions for people to criticize and supervise the government".

Public oversight has been an integral part of the authorities' efforts to clean up government. Yet few take it seriously because everybody knows how difficult, if not impossible, it is.

Even with the latest rules requiring government institutions to share information, it usually takes a good fight for a citizen to acquire information that should have been available. With bureaucratic agencies continuing to operate in the dark and the public effectively excluded from the decision-making process, the talk of supervision is probably just a bunch of hot air. Even when people do see something wrong, more often than not, they have to battle their way just in order to have their stories heard.