The following post is from the China-based Ah-Q Weekly blog (link: ÈòøQÂë®Âàä), translated and links embedded by CDT; the author’s writing mixes using a sarcastic tone and some real heartfelt words:
About the NPC and CPPCC, there were lots of things I was going to talk about. But first, my family boss disagreed with my plan. She thinks that to say those things is not beneficial for the stability and solidarity of the international family; not beneficial for policies to defend the unity of Iran; not beneficial for the fantastic situation of North Korean people who are the masters of their country; not beneficial for Cuban peasants who just had something to be a little bit happy about; not beneficial for Bin Laden who has been in hiding but occasionally disturbs American imperialism; not beneficial for …… Let me put it this way, in her eyes, there will be nothing beneficial. I have to listen to her order, since I am in the same situation as Mr. Clinton.
Second, I have not engaged with our society for some days, so my understanding of the thinking from above is not so updated. Talking about such a sensitive topic, something could go wrong if I say too much. Look at Mr. Wearing Three Watches, Keso, Pingke, all those great bloggers who are sleeping right in the heart of our motherland and are playing blind and deaf [about NPC/CPPCC], why should I jump up and down about this matter?
Third, I am not a representative of the NPC, nor a member of the CPPCC. It is just not the time for little people like me to point fingers and comment on policies and laws that have national significance. All those representatives are in unanimous agreement, raising two hands to pass those law and policies. If idiotic people like me comment and criticize, am I trying to prove that those representatives only have pig brains? Those representatives do not have pig brains, therefore I can only shut-up.
The first opinion I had wanted to say but could not say was: which is more important, reviewing or planning? Representatives all like to talk about the work in the future, but do not pay enough attention to how things were implemented from last year’s meetings. Therefore, old problems drag year and year, while new policies change their face every year. If you don’t believe me, you can find the press reports about last year’s meetings, is there much differences? I attended these meetings [as a journalist] ten years ago: the education budget, science and technology budget, and the issue of peasants were hot problems representatives talked about then. Ten years later, they are still talking about these problems. What’s up with this? Therefore, small and uneducated people like me think: those annual NPC/CPPCC meetings should first discuss and review the work of the past year in detail, one item after another, and find out where the problems are and who is responsible. For example, the jerk who covered up the chemical pollution of the Songhua River last year, shouldn’t he come to the meetings to explain himself to all representatives? So the NPC/CPPCC should have a new rule: if you can not clear up last year’s work, can not find the root of the problems, you should not start to plan next year’s work.
The second opinion I had wanted to say but could not say was related to the first one: when planning the financial budget, every item was under-budgeted. For example, the education budget is seriously insufficient, only two percent of GDP, when even third world countries’ education budget is above four percent. And health and medical insurance, social benefits, science and technology, military expenses, investment in all these items are lower than mid-level countries in the world. Then I have to ask, which expenses are above the world’s average level? Can we lower those expenses to support those under-budgeted items? I also want to ask, how much money has been wasted, or spent on bribes or accidents? Should we talk about this as well?
The third opinion I had wanted to say but could not say was: this year our military expenses increased fifteen percent. I do not think that’s enough. Just take a look at countries who are being bullied, we should know how necessary defense spending is. Those great leaders represented by Saddam were overthrown precisely because they did not pay enough attention to national defense. Therefore we should strengthen national defense building, even if we are all starving. Education, rural problems, social benefits, those can all wait. The top priorities are Landing the Moon project, Aircraft-carriers, super fighter jets which can shoot down F22s, warships which are unmatched in the world, missiles which can kill Chen Shui-Binan with an error rate of less ten centimeters. I strongly suggest that we take a new look at Mr. Deng Xiaoping‘s “keep a low-profile, accumulate our own strength” foreign policy. We should readjust our national defense budget to be more than fifty percent of GDP.
The fourth opinion I had wanted to say but could not say was: we must strengthen the party’s leadership over the NPC and CPPCC, and nip those unharmonious voices in the bud. We should not be relaxed just because we bought so many fighter planes and warships. We should learn lessons from the Taiwan government that since they lost control over the parliament, even the purchase of two submarines was rejected. We must also strictly manage the Internet, such as forums and emails on Google, they all should be strictly controlled. Those that should be blocked must be blocked swiftly. It can’t be like now, sometimes off and sometimes on, this is an opportunist’s behavior, and is a crime against the party and state. Since the liberalizing trend of the Internet, I have suggested not only that the Internet should have a real name registration system, we should also control non- Communist Party member’s use of the Internet. We should only allow people to log onto Xinhuanet and People’s Daily, and not even let them get onto sina.com and sohu.com. If it is necessary, I suggest the Party’s Central Committee should launch another anti-bourgeois rightists national campaign,
These are words from my heart, which I cannot tell you. If I do tell you, even those most idiotic Americans will know [the truth about the NPC and CPPCC meetings. ]
UPDATE: author’s comment to this translation is here (in Chinese).
