Deputies see no need for reports to constituents

Nearly half of the more than 300 Guangdong deputies to the provincial and national people's congresses are against a proposal to regularly report on their work to their constituents. The Guangdong People's Congress Standing Committee sent out more than 900 questionnaires to members of the Guangdong People's Congress and Guangdong's representatives to the National People's Congress.

In an Information Times report yesterday, only 53.8 per cent of the more than 300 representatives who replied said they supported regular reports to constituents, saying it would help members do their

jobs better and take their positions seriously.

But members who opposed the idea said it was just another formality and would put an unnecessary burden on them.

Dong Guoqiang , a congress member in Shenzhen, backed the proposal. 'Being a deputy is not a glory but a responsibility,' he said. Regular reports to constituents would be an effective way to listen to the public.

Yesterday, in chat rooms on mainland website sina.com, people registered overwhelming criticism of congress members against the idea.

Feng Ye , a Shenzhen resident, said congress members should be accountable to their constituents because it was their duty. 'It shows there is a problem with our system,' he said.

Guangzhou resident Liang Yun , 23, also said members should report to their constituents.

She Liang said members should report to their constituents at least once a year and it would be unreasonable for deputies to claim they did not have the time to do so.

Guo Weiqing , a politics professor at Sun Yat-sen University, said the key problem was that congress members were not fulltime and many did not do enough for their constituents.

He pointed out that deputies seldom published contact numbers for the public.