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Television advertising has long been associated more with
commercial benefit than public interest. So on the eve of the
Chinese Lunar New Year, residents of Yiwu City in East China's
Zhejiang Province were surprised to see a TV ad soliciting public
proposals for submission to the annual session of the National
People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, set
for?March in the nation's capital,
Beijing.???
As it turned out, the ad, which played for 20 days starting from
January 18, was the brainchild of Zhou Xiaoguang, an NPC deputy and
board chairwoman of Zhejiang Xinguang Decoration Materials Co Ltd,
in Yiwu.
"As the only NPC deputy in Yiwu, I feel responsible to my
constituency. However, since I'm only familiar with business
circles, I hoped to hear more from workers, farmers and people from
other sectors to make my proposals more representative," says
42-year-old Zhou, who tabled five proposals at the last NPC session
apart from those she proposed jointly with other deputies.
'Good results'
She paid 8,000 yuan (US$964) for the ads, and "the results are
unexpectedly good," marvels the entrepreneur who has over 3,600
employees in her company.
By February 11, she had received more than 600 telephone calls
and over 100 e-mails and letters, some even from Guangdong and
Fujian provinces as well as adjacent Shanghai.
Nonetheless, Zhou admits that she did not take out the ad just
for the upcoming NPC meeting. "My concern has always been to
resolve the problems facing local residents. I've got to be
responsible to people who vote for me."
Zhou Xiaoguang's unprecedented gesture has won great acclaim
from the public.
Xiao Guang, a netizen on an online forum run by Xinhua News
Agency, writes: "NPC deputies resorted to meetings, group
inspections and individual visits as a way to relate to their
constituency, which is of very low efficiency. It is the duty of
NPC deputies to listen to voices from various sectors and forge
close ties with their electorate."
The Law on NPC Deputies stipulates that deputies must often
listen to the opinions of the general public by various means, and
answer inquiries about their work from the electorate.
However, it is not an easy requirement to implement in real
life.
Xu Xianglin, professor with the College of Public Administration
at Peking University, observes: "A systematic arrangement is
missing in the communication between NPC deputies and their
constituents. The fact that an entrepreneur has to use her own
money and resources to expand communication with the voters is in
itself a reflection of the problems. There should be a mechanism to
ensure every deputy has the means to perform his or her duty
well."
Wang Chunyun, a deputy from Nanjing, capital of East China's
Jiangsu Province, finds it difficult to perform her duties fully.
"Newspapers and magazines are a major source of information for me
to connect with the outside world," sighs the engineer with an
electronics institute.
Deputies' concerns
"My contacts are very limited, which makes it difficult for me
to do research on NPC proposals," she says.
Chen Xin, another NPC deputy from a hospital in Nanjing has
similar concerns. "I'm interested in the rural health system. But
it takes time and money to go out of my way to do research in rural
areas."
On the other hand, it's worth noting that many problems from
across the country have been flooding the NPC Standing Committee
and crying out for attention and help.
From January to November last year, the committee's letters and
complaints bureau processed 52,852 letters and heard 17,063 cases
of problems connected to, and malpractice of, local
administrations, a 20 percent rise compared with 2002.
Complaints reasonable
About 40 percent of the complaints were lodged against the
police and the judiciary departments at all levels, while 33
percent were against government institutions, 13 percent about
corruption and 11 percent about injustices, according to the NPC
bureau.
More astounding was that over 80 percent of the complaints
received by State Bureau for Letters and Calls were "reasonable"
and 80 percent could have, and should have, been resolved by local
governments, says Zhou Zhanshun, director of the bureau.
This leads to worrying concerns.
The communication links between the general public and the 3,000
NPC deputies and over 400,000 grassroots people's deputies need
improvement. As scholars argue, although some deputies have failed
to perform their duties fully as they worry about their own
self-advancement, they are not solely to blame.
Li Long, a professor on constitution studies, believes the
existing law is not in line with the country's fast development and
it's time for a revision.
"Regulations on people's deputies are more matters of principle
than operational. There are no measures to ensure close ties
between deputies and the voters, nor are constituents able to
supervise deputies," he says.
Mao Shoulong, dean of the Department of Administration at Renmin
University of China, deems the post of deputy a time-demanding job.
"But many deputies are part-time. Some may not even visit their
constituents."
Mao calls for professionalizing people's deputies so that they
put their heart and soul into their service.
"This is definitely an imperative trend in China's reform,"
agrees Qiao Xinsheng, a web surfer at the Xinhua News Agency's
official website. But before it materializes, he suggests, deputies
should first have a suitable working environment.
Some local people's congresses have piloted improvements in
their work. In Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, lawmakers
have started to engage legal professionals as legislative
assistants.
Late last year, the Standing Committee of Chongqing Municipal
People's Congress hired a doctor of law from Southwest China
University of Political Science and Law as a part-time
assistant.
Offering advice
The job of the assistant is to offer advice and suggestions to
Cheng Yiju, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the
municipal people's congress, especially on Cheng's proposals to the
second session of the 10th National People's Congress next month,
and conduct research on the local environment for investment and
foreign trade.
"Most lawmakers hold two or more posts concurrently, leaving
them little time for legislative work," says Ma Huaide, president
of the law school of the Chinese University of Political Science
and Law.
In view of the currently-slim possibility of turning all
lawmakers into full-time professionals, Ma regards employing
legislative assistants as a pragmatic way to improve legislative
quality.
While money and personnel are yet to be in place, people's
congresses at provincial levels have laudably worked out ways to
hear what constituents have to say.
With the support of the local people's congress, Zhou Xiaoguang,
from Yiwu, was also fortunate to have a research team of retired
officials and government advisers last October.
In East China's Jiangxi Province, people are encouraged to offer
their opinions in short messages via mobile phones to their
deputies.
In Henan and Beijing, hotlines and online chat rooms are
organized as platforms for the public to voice their views to their
deputies.
In Southwest China's Guiyang, the Standing Committee of the
Municipal People's Congress designates the first Wednesday of every
month for judges, prosecutors and lawyers to hear people's
complaints and help provide solutions.
The municipal legislature in Shanghai now takes public
complaints into account in appraising the performance of government
officials and court chiefs. Some deputies to the municipal people's
congress have publicized their e-mail addresses for proposals to
the local legislature and the government.
Despite all these efforts, it is everyone's wish that
enterprising and innovative measures do not fade away after the NPC
session ends, and a mechanism needs to be created to keep these
measures functioning.
(China Daily March 1, 2004)
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