Local authorities must listen more

A muted public response to a proposal requesting input shows authorities are not listening, said an article in Beijing Youth Daily (excerpts below).

The Dongguan government published 15 draft regulations for public feedback but the response was, zero. Not a single response.

To make matters worse, the authorities tried to make excuses, such as a high migrant population and people were too busy.

If the Dongguan government really wanted to solicit public opinion on public issues, they should first let citizens know where the communication channels are, rather than blame the citizens.

Besides, the public believe that they don't have much of a say anyway.

Some local authorities claim that they want to receive more public opinion, but once the citizens express their opinion, demands and criticism, the authorities seldom listen.

Sometimes they even go against public will in policymaking.

It seems some authorities are not listening.