New platform for whistleblowers
- By Wang Hairong
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E-mail Beijing Review, October 29, 2013
On his way home, Bai was assaulted and his legs were broken. Bai believes that Meng sent the attackers, as there was nobody else he had disputes with. He reported the incident to local police authorities, which said that they would investigate. Several months passed, the case remained unresolved. Bai began to report Meng's behavior .
Effective method
Since 2005, the CCDI and local anti-corruption agencies launched a number of websites aimed at tackling corruption. Since these earlier websites lacked standardized domain names, content or format, whistleblowers could not identify or access them easily.
On October 28, 2009 the CCDI launched 12388.gov.cn to accept public tip-offs and suggestions on curbing corruption. In the first month, that website received 13,800 reports, averaging 460 a day, according to CCDI. Yet after the first month, the website's traffic declined. In the first quarter of 2013, the website received an average of 150-200 reports daily.
To increase public awareness of its official website, the CCDI placed an icon that reads, "I want to report" on its homepage.
On September 22, the CCDI announced procedures for receiving and handling petitions and reports from the public, explaining ways the public could report cases, the kinds of complaints handled, petitioners' rights and the body's obligations.
The CCDI said that it will handle reports on disciplinary violations committed by Party organizations and members; complaints on Party members and officials who refuse punishment; and suggestions on Party building and discipline supervision.
Public complaints will be accepted through letters, online posts, personal visits and hotlines and will then be assigned to the relevant departments.
As for cases within the jurisdiction of local disciplinary bodies or procuratorial departments, the commission will transfer the cases to them, urging them to investigate and report the results, the CCDI said.
In the first month after the launch of the new website, the CCDI's website received more than 24,800 reports, averaging more than 800 per day, according to a news report by Xinhua News Agency.
"The website is a new tool in the fight against corruption," said Dai Yanjun, Vice Dean of the Party Building Teaching and Research Department, the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.
"Reporting corruption online is convenient, fast and highly confidential, and the website provides an opportunity for direct communication between the general public and high-level anti-graft authorities," Dai said.
The Internet has long been favored by whistleblowers when exposing corruptive officials. From 2010 to 2012, 156 confirmed cases of corruption first came to light through online news reports, online forums, micro-blogs or organizations' official websites, according to the Annual Report on Development of New Media in China, which was released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in June. Information exposed on the Internet has led to the recent downfall of a number of officials.
Liu Tienan, former Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, was removed from public office on May 14 for "serious disciplinary violations."
