Dig deeper into flight incident

It's shocking to see the Internet abuzz with postings on a Party official physically assaulting a flight stewardess and equally shocking to see the unconvincing findings of the official investigation, says an article on people.com.cn. Excerpts:

Fang Daguo (41), political commissar of the military affairs department at Yuexiu district in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, faced a probe by local authorities, who said he "did not hit" the stewardess. But a foreign student on the flight told Xinhua that he saw Fang grab the attendant that caused "bruises on her arm".

An overwhelming majority of netizens say the student's version is the truth and there is enough reason for the authorities to dig deeper into the incident. For example, they should ask more witnesses, and check and publicize video records. Declaring that Fang is innocent without doing so is ridiculous, they say.

The incident was the first disaster and improper handling of the case by local authorities was the second. The first disaster has caused enough harm to the stewardess and resulted in the suspension of Fang from his post. If the authorities don't deal with the case objectively to tackle the second disaster, it could also ruin the government's credibility.

The authorities should reflect on how they have dealt with such incidents in the past and take corrective measures so as not to harm the image of the government and the Party in the long run. They should know that a wrongdoing can be corrected immediately but a damaged image cannot be resurrected overnight.

(China Daily 09/06/2012 page9)