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Central Government, Policy

Chinese find public feedback channels ineffective

By Amelia Kwok | 7 January 2009

Channels for public feedback remain inadequate despite government efforts in recent years to solicit more views on the ground, according to a recent survey conducted by People’s Daily newspaper in China.

From hotlines run by mayoral offices to governors’ email addresses and online complaint centres, nearly 70 per cent of 7111 online users polled in the weeklong survey on People’s Daily web site said they had no idea of such channels for public opinion, while 96.8 per cent of respondents said these available channels were ineffective.

The results of the survey also showed lack of response from government departments and the passing of responsibility to other parties as major problems in collecting public opinion.

Only 3.2 per cent of those polled said they received timely response on their feedback and felt happy about the channels for public opinion.

The rest of those polled indicated disappointing experiences - 6.5 percent said the response from government was too slow, while more than half of respondents said it was “very difficult” to get through the hotlines and emails were usually ignored.

“The response from the online users reflects the real situation,” said Shen Ronghua, a researcher in public administration.

“I have tried the mayor’s hotline in Beijing and it was always busy,” added Shen.

Setting up such a hotline is a good way for officials to be aware of the public’s concerns, but a hotline or an email inbox is not enough, he said.

“After all, the mayor has limited time and energy, and cannot take care of all the issues. Every functional department should have its own channel to deal with public complaints or suggestions,” said Shen.

The survey shows current channels for public opinion to be flawed and huge efforts to build e-government - the use of the nternet to carry out government services - have failed to serve the public effectively, said Guo Weiqing, a professor of public administration at Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University.

“The government has invested a lot to promote e-government, but such efforts have failed if most people do not know of the public opinion channels,” said Guo.

Since 1999, the authorities have encouraged local governments to set up official web sites to better serve the public. In 2002, the State Council decided to pump in 1 trillion yuan (US$146 billion) to boost infrastructure in information services in five years.

By the end of last year, about 500 local governments have signed e-government contracts with China Telecom, the major state-owned telecom operator said.

The country spent 50 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) on e-government services in 2005, while the figure hit 60 billion yuan (US$8.8 billion) in 2006, a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences showed.

People’s Daily itself put up public opinion channels in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, with all hosting official web sites.

“We should seriously doubt the feasibility of those web sites,” Guo Weiqing from Sun Yat-sen University said.

“The web sites are only the tools. The most important thing is the mentality of government officials and whether they are willing and prepared to communicate with the public,” he said.

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