Transparency, not hiding, can help desensitize govt staff salary issue

A clerk counts Chinese 100 yuan banknotes at a branch of China Construction Bank in Nantong, Jiangsu province, Dec 2, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

According to reports, several provinces plan to adjust the salaries for employees in government agencies and State-sponsored institutions. The public response to the news, which they interpreted as "raising salary for officials", prompted the provincial governments to delete the news from their official websites. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

Those getting rich always have government backgrounds, that's the impression of the public, and that's why the salaries of government staff have become so sensitive. People worry that the income gap between them and government officials might further widen.

Yet the local governments' response to people's concerns, namely deleting the news from their official websites, won't help desensitize the issue. That's just trying to stick their heads in the sand and will only attract more attention from the public. They cannot pretend public opinions don't exist.

It's time local governments adopted a different approach to better interact with the public. If they mean to desensitize the issue, they need to first be transparent, and let the public know why and by how much they intend to adjust the salaries of government staff. The lack of transparency over government promotions in the past several years also aroused public suspicion, so put a stop to speculation it is necessary to be more open.

Besides, they need to rally public opinion to support the decision-making process. The salaries for government staff come from taxpayers' pockets and people have the right to know how their money is being spent.

The attempt to withhold the news of the salary changes shows that the way local governments interact with the ordinary people is no longer feasible. There should be no attempt to hide the truth; as long as the salary increases are reasonable, the public won't demonize them. Local governments need to change their attitude and learn to have open dialogues with the ordinary people, instead of trying to hide everything.