Public servants must heed call of leadership to serve the people

THE REAL ESTATE REGISTRATION CENTER in Huangshi, Central China's Hubei province, allowed just 50 residents a day to complete the registration process, which is far from enough to meet the demand. When a journalist asked about this, Chen Hong, the head of the center, said he would rather delay ordinary residents than let his staff bear a heavy workload. Thepaper.cn comments:

It seems Chen had ample reason for his words: He wanted to cut the workload of his staff. The problem is, they are paid by taxpayers to serve the public. When Chen decided to sacrifice the convenience of the public for longer rest hours for his staff, he was using bureaucratic power to compromise the quality of service people should enjoy.

A closer look at the incident also reveals some deeper problems. It is hard to imagine such things would have happened if it were a private company, because a private company must serve its customers well in order to make a profit and survive, and it could not afford to make things hard for customers.