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Government shills turn public hearings into jokes
By Guangzhou Daily |
July 19, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PUBLIC hearings are supposedly places where people heckle the government on a variety of issues, but in Chengdu City in southwestern China, four citizen representatives invariably raise their hands in approval of whatever proposals the government floats for discussion, be they increases in tap water price, taxi fare or public lottery of car number plates.
Septuagenarian Hu Litian has reportedly attended 20 hearings in the last seven years. She is blasted as one of the professional "puppets" who shill for the government.
But instead of just singling out these "puppets," shouldn't we find out who is actually choreographing their moves behind the scenes?
Coincidence cannot explain why Hu was selected so many times among hundreds of candidates to represent the public. Moreover, how can people in their right mind blindly support policies that will harm their interests? Is it because they are taught to do so?
It's no secret that many public hearings have lost their credibility, with critics even joking that they have become "the biggest sitcom."
Imported from the West as a form of democratic decision making, the public hearing has gone awry not only because the public is sometimes represented by the wrong people, but because some officials exploit it as window dressing for their "good governance."
Septuagenarian Hu Litian has reportedly attended 20 hearings in the last seven years. She is blasted as one of the professional "puppets" who shill for the government.
But instead of just singling out these "puppets," shouldn't we find out who is actually choreographing their moves behind the scenes?
Coincidence cannot explain why Hu was selected so many times among hundreds of candidates to represent the public. Moreover, how can people in their right mind blindly support policies that will harm their interests? Is it because they are taught to do so?
It's no secret that many public hearings have lost their credibility, with critics even joking that they have become "the biggest sitcom."
Imported from the West as a form of democratic decision making, the public hearing has gone awry not only because the public is sometimes represented by the wrong people, but because some officials exploit it as window dressing for their "good governance."
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