Editorials

Transparency matters

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-15 07:27

Kudos to Bazhou district in Bazhong, Sichuan province, for leading by example.

The district's authorities have decided to throw open to public scrutiny the accounts of its townships and sub-districts.

Local residents will also be briefed every month on government expenditure. This means, unlike their counterparts in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, residents will no longer have to navigate a bureaucratic maze to understand how their local government utilizes public funds.

This decision is certainly laudable.

Nearly three months ago, when Baimiao, one of the townships under Bazhou's jurisdiction, started to publish its accounts online, it was viewed as a mere public relations exercise by an inconsequential local government.

Now, with the practice being adopted district-wide, such skepticism has been found unwarranted. The resolve may have faced many hurdles; government accounts are not always the most transparent of records. The move may even have faced resistance from some townships in Bazhou.

Subjecting government accounts to public oversight inevitably takes a lot of adapting by Chinese public officials who are better accustomed to keeping the public in the dark.

By making public their accounts, they have surrendered much of the latitude they used to enjoy financially. That is why most government offices in this country, from the ministries downwards to the provinces and municipalities have resisted such efforts in the past.

If what was done in a small township can be adopted across the district, there is no reason why it cannot be applied elsewhere.

Besides setting an example for those who are adroit in expounding the significance of transparency but never actually putting that into practice, this is fundamentally self-liberating.

There is no better way for government institutions to prove their worth and credibility than by making their accounts accessible to all.

Transparency begins, as it has in this case, when officials start sharing such essential information with the public.

(China Daily 06/15/2010 page4)