A career free of corruption may pay off in cash in Zhejiang
Province.
As of January 1, some government employees in the east China
province will be eligible for a 300,000-yuan (US$36,000) pension
after retirement if they are proven to have been clean and honest
during their tenure.
Zhejiang Province plans to introduce the Guaranteed Money System
for Clean Government in Xiacheng District of Hangzhou, the
provincial capital, and Cixi City, according to the Modern
Golden News.
Zhu Zhongyi, secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission
of Xiacheng District, said the pension is made up of contributions
paid by the employees and subsidies paid by the local
government.
For example, a new public servant at the age of 22 will be
required to pay 500 yuan (US$60) yearly and the local government
will add 150 yuan (US$18). The amounts of money increase according
to the length of service and the position of the employee.
Qualified employees will be eligible to receive up to 300,000
yuan (US$36,000) upon retirement.
"Anyone who is punished during their tenure will not get the
full amount," said Zhu, adding that the amount of the deductions
will vary depending upon the severity of the punishment.
Those who have received warnings will lose 20 percent of the
total; dismissed civil servants will lose 60 percent; and those who
are expelled will lose the entire amount.
A draft of the new pension system has been given to the
Discipline Inspection Commission for final approval and is expected
to take effect on January 1, 2005.
In Cixi, a scheme called Public Clean Government Accumulation
Funds will be funded entirely by the local government, according to
the report.
Tang Yijun, secretary-general of the Zhejiang Provincial
Discipline Inspection Commission, was quoted in a local newspaper
as saying that the launch of the clean pension system would be
conducive to healthy government.
Tang said it is worth trying to apply economics to ensure
officials do not take bribes.
However, the new practice will not be applied to other places in
Zhejiang Province in the near future, Tang stated.
Some experts believe that while the new pension system can work
as a supplement to other methods of eliminating corruption, it is
not effective enough on its own.
"More attention should be paid to building a power scrutiny
system to standardize the personnel system, and reform financial
management and the administrative examination and approval system,"
said Xu Jianfeng, vice director of the Zhejiang Provincial Academy
of Social Sciences' Economic Institute.
Earlier this year, the Public Security Bureau in Huzhou began to
apply a similar pension scheme to police officers. About 300 yuan
(US$36) of an officer's salary is deducted every month while up to
500 yuan (US$60) is paid by the bureau. Under the plan, officers
would receive pensions of about 370,000 yuan (US$45,000) as a
reward for having unblemished 40-year records.
The decision was the target of widespread public criticism: a
poll of more than 2,000 people on Sina.com.cn resulted in 60
percent voting against the pension and 73 percent saying it would
not help to reduce corruption.
Opposition was largely on the grounds that a clean record should
be a basic expectation, not a bonus to be rewarded, and that the
system would involve substantial expenditures without reducing
corruption.
(China Daily December 14, 2004)