The municipal authorities in Beijing have reportedly been experimenting on a risk evaluation mechanism that previews a government policy's potential of causing letters and visits of complaints, or xin fang.

Alongside consultation with the public, the outcome of such evaluation, it is said, will determine whether or not a particular policy of public concern will be carried forward to implementation.

This should not have been in the news. It would be ridiculous if a "people's government", as each government in this country is officially named, enacts policies without due regard to people's feelings.

Yet considering that we are just relieved of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's wrong-headed attempt to force filtering software on personal computers, this is not bad, either. At least, again, if it truly works, a design like this may help the municipal decision-makers avoid similar embarrassments. Honestly, the MIIT is not alone in churning out ill-fated policies. And, in fairness to the MIIT, its courage to admit to and correct the wrong is laudable.

In the pilot project of the Dongcheng district, for instance, such major decisions or projects as urban planning, demolition compensation, and residents relocation are subject to preview by a panel consisting of experts, lawyers, representatives of competent authorities and those of the people to be affected.

This is no deliberative democracy, but an attempt to engage those who are directly involved and those likely to be affected. The latter are no longer people at the receiving end who have to accept whatever is delivered to them. Even better, they are assigned a seat at the policy assessment table. You cannot deny it is progress.

Authorities in charge of xin fang in the city reportedly plan to review the pilot projects in the districts prior to the National Day and modify technical specifics. Which means we may see the risk evaluation mechanism become a municipal policy quite soon.

That the xin fang authorities have been the initiator and driver of the process reveals an eagerness to reduce public dissatisfaction with government policies. For that purpose, producing sensible decisions is an important step. Yet it is only one step.

Looking back at the plethora of complaints that upset governments at all levels, there are grievances about ill-conceived policies. The majority, however, involves abuse of policies that are fine in principle. In too many cases, we have seen good policies get distorted and became bad in the wrong hands.

So unless backed up with faithful implementation, the risk evaluation in advance is no guarantee that the municipal government of Beijing will hear fewer complaints.

(China Daily August 24, 2009)