Building an Open Government

By staff reporter LUO YUANJUN

BUILDING an open government is the demand of the time. It puts power in the spotlight and exposes it to scrutiny and supervision," commented Zhang Qinghong, magistrate of Changsha County. Wu Silong, Party secretary of Kaihui Township in that county, terms the move as an "inner-revolution of the government."

Shuanghe villagers vote on their relocation site and construction blueprint under an urban expansion plan. Tang Jianbing

Electronic Town Hall Meetings

The public debut of the movement might be traced back to July 2009 when 12 observers, including experts, deputies to the county people's congress, members of the county committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and representatives of average citizens were invited to be present at an executive meeting of the county government. The event was streamed live over the county's official website where visitors could post comments. Four hotlines were also set up in the meeting room to take calls from locals seeking to express their opinions on the topics discussed.

More than 80 posts were made and over 100 people called in during the three hours. The suggestions and complaints they raised went directly on to the meeting agenda. Yang Yiwen, Party secretary of the county, reiterated that citizen representatives at government meetings are not only there to listen but also to speak. A particular process is used to review their input; some suggestions will be adopted, others not. In either case, the government will issue a rationale, and regardless of outcome, local residents are welcome to oversee its policy-making process.

At this point all government information is open to public review in Changsha County, and this applies at the town and village levels as well. All residents in the region have avenues to carry their voices and swing policy-making in the direction of common interests.

Changsha County plans, in three to five years, to practice and perfect a governance mechanism featuring "public participation, expert evaluation, government decision-making and political supervision." The merit of making the exercise of power transparent, and of active and rational mass participation in public administration, is actually government empowerment; broader public support and deference to collective wisdom is the point of healthy interaction between officials and citizens.