A few years ago, after a major round of urban renewal, I noticed some sidewalks in the city had been reduced to the point where they were barely wide enough for foot traffic. Pedestrians had to be tightrope walkers or at least tiptoe to make their way.
The places where we used to stroll have given way to bike lanes or thoroughfares, or have been carved into parking spots for the cars that are increasing at an exponential rate in the city.
The streets are so wide in Beijing and many other cities that pedestrians have to struggle to get across them. They either race against time to beat the traffic lights or negotiate the nearest bridges or tunnels to get to where they need to go - which means walking until one finds the necessary facilities.
Though many of us might not be aware of it, the vanishing sidewalks and excessively wide streets represent an encroachment on our rights - our right to space and to public facilities.
If these seem trivial in the hierarchy of rights, then there have been others in which people's lives have been jeopardized. Urban renewal projects, such as shopping malls, new high-grade residential towers and other profitable real estate projects, have forced many people to move out of their houses in the inner city. Many uprooted residents do not receive enough compensation to remain in the city, which means they might have to abandon the convenience of being close to their work to move to the "sleeping towns" in the suburbs. And to secure new housing, they might have to dip into their savings to offset the small compensation they receive. Because many of the uprooted residents are low-income earners, the added costs will only make things harder on their families and marginalize them.
If we look into the miscalculated city renewal projects and other developments that are making people suffer, we will see they have one thing in common: Public participation was missing from the decision-making process.
In the absence of public participation, decision-makers who are preoccupied with solving specific problems are likely to neglect some people's long-term interests. The results could benefit some people at the expense of others, such as cutting into sidewalks to make room for automobiles.
Suppose the decision-makers are influenced by selfish advisors who have personal interests at stake in such projects. The results could be even worse.
Hence the necessity of public participation. The public should have a say when it comes to projects that affect their lives. Despite the progress China has made in this regard in recent years, there remain obstacles to increasing public participation.
One of the main obstacles is inadequate legislation. Although several laws have attempted to incorporate public participation into policy- and decision-making, such as the Law on the Environmental Impact Assessment, the Law on the Administrative Punishment, the Law on Administrative Licensing and the Law on Pricing, the effect has been uneven. And public participation has mostly been limited to hearings on pricing, legislation and some administrative moves, but is absent from many projects that have the potential to immediately affect people's lives, such as land leases, neighborhood renovation and city renewal projects.
Then the selection of representatives to hearings may not be reasonable or democratic enough to ensure that every stakeholder's voice is heard. In some cases, the representatives are randomly designated by the sponsor, whose independence is questionable.
Another obstacle comes from official resistance to the process, which is based on fears of inefficiency. For a long time there has been a misconception that efficiency is more important than equity in the drive to accelerate China's modernization. Actually, efficiency should not be the chief concern of the decision-making process - rashly made decisions have led to disasters and violations of the rights of the residents. A desirable decision-making process is fair and just, and the opinions of different stakeholder groups are weighed carefully before an agreement or compromise is reached that reflects the interests of all groups. This process might take more time, but the result is more likely to be efficient.
Limited access to all of the necessary information is also an obstacle to public participation. Effective and genuine public participation is informed participation. The people have the right to know what their representatives have said at the public participation sessions, which means the minutes and memorandums of such meetings should be made public.
The public should be made more conscious of their right to participate and become more capable of doing so. One problem in China is that there are not many interest groups willing to articulate the different voices in society, and there is a tendency for those whose voices are louder to receive more attention while the rights of the silent majority are neglected.
Public participation is not so alien to us. Decades ago, the late leader Chairman Mao Zedong put forth the mass line of "from among the people and to the people", which mobilized and motivated millions of Chinese to pool their wisdom and strength to win the liberation and independence of the Chinese nation. However, the good old tradition has been neglected for too long, especially at the grassroots level.
If we are going to pursue comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development that features equitable improvement and the common development of material, political and spiritual facets of Chinese society; balanced growth between urban and rural areas, different regions, and economic and social undertakings; and harmony between man and nature, we must respect the people's right to participate in decision making on matters concerning their welfare.
The author is a council member of China Society for Human Rights Studies
(China Daily March 1, 2008)