The effects of dereliction of duty can be disastrous and fatal.

Statistics provided by the country's top procuratorate prove that such effects are even more harmful than those of bribery. The direct loss of 35.73 billion yuan (US$4.64 billion) caused by dereliction of duty since 2003 speaks volumes.

However, the nearly 30,000 cases investigated by prosecutors nationwide account for only a small percentage of the total. The fact that many cases have been neglected or dismissed as anything but a crime explains why so many government officials would have committed such offences.

A lack of sense of responsibility and laziness are usually the major culprits of dereliction of duty.

Power means responsibility. And such responsibility requires those with power to know how to use it to perform their duty.

But many officials lack such a sense of responsibility. Or, they once wielded it, but it was carried away on the back of the privileges that come with power. Still others believe that their power entitles them to privileges whether or not they perform their duties.

In extreme cases, some officials with decision-making power make decisions arbitrarily, and these decisions have an impact on the general public's interests and rights.

These officials are somehow oblivious to the fact that they are paid by taxpayers to serve public interests.

And some officials are just lazy. They do not conduct investigations or on-the-spot inspections before making decisions.

If those officials who supervise workplace safety in coal mines went down to inspect these mines, many fatal accidents could have been prevented.

In many cases, there is a connection between dereliction of duty and abuse of power. Some would turn a blind eye to anything counter to the public's rights and interests once bribed. Such cases are derelictions of duty on the surface with undercurrents of corruption.

The campaign launched by the Supreme People's Precuratorate to invite the public to join the fight against dereliction of duty could kill two birds with one stone.

The participation of the public will exert effective supervision over the conduct of officials, who will also be alerted by the campaign and made aware of their responsibility for the public power in their hands.

(China Daily May 12, 2007)