Dismissed officials' move must be transparent

Updated: 2011-12-07 17:19

By Sun Chi (chinadaily.com.cn)

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It is a must for a rational administration to face up to the public worries about "dismissed" officials being reassigned and establish a better way of dealing with it, argues a review on People's Daily.

The forced relocation in the Yihuang county incident in Jiangxi province in September, 2010 rightly raised serious concerns from the public.

Three family members set themselves on fire to protest the local government's plans to evict them from their home to make way for a transport hub.

Ye Zhongcheng, who was 79, died of his injuries and his remains were forcibly removed against the family's wishes.

One year later it has been discovered the officials reportedly dismissed in the scandal have been reassigned, which has been verified by the local authorities.

According to certain regulations, dismissed officials are allowed to be reassigned at least one year later as long as it is carried out under the relevant rules and procedures.

The article states: “As the administrative accountability system has developed over the years, it is no longer in line with the nature and purpose of accountability to dismiss officials without reassignment opportunities. Offering new positions in a transparent, definite, fair and square way to dismissed personnel who made mistakes in the past is fair step forward.

“The key is transparency. A reassignment is coincidently often discovered by the public rather than informed by the authorities, which always raises the public's suspicions and reflects the gap between the procedure and the reality.”

The opinion piece in China’s most influence newspaper argues that blame and public opinion are not always right. However, the core is how to strengthen the persuasiveness of reassignments and eliminate the negative impact to the public, dispelling suspicions, maintaining a good environment of public opinion.

As for the Yihuang Incident, it says. The result of the investigation, the punishment of the relevant officials, the attitudes of the dismissed… should be clearly and definitely publicized so as to gain the public's understanding and support for the action.