The "iron rice bowl", as a catchphrase for a job in a State-owned enterprise or institution, has become history with the transition of the country's economy from a planned one to a market one. But many who apply for a civil servant's job are still obsessed with the idea that a position in a government department will provide a life-long security of everything.

Yet, the fact that about 15,000 civil servants have been disciplined and some even dismissed every year on average in the past decade indicates that the iron-rice-bowl mindset is still prevalent among those who intend to idle their days away on a civil servant's position, while enjoying a better-than-average salary and welfare packages.

Sources from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security reveal that regulations on the dismissal and resignation of civil servants are in the pipeline and will quite probably be released and adopted by the end of this year.

The regulations are a supplement to the existing Civil Servant Law and the regulations on penalties for civil servants. All these are expected to constitute a complete legal framework for a sound supervision of government employees.

In addition, quite a number of local governments have adopted rules of their own on how to encourage government employees to better serve the interest of the general public.

In Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, some civil servants who receive most complaints from the public will lose their jobs and errant government departments will be punished.

All these are meant to instill into the minds of government employees the awareness that they are paid by taxpayers to serve the interest of the general public and that the power in their hands derives from the people. They have no right to abuse the power for their own personal gains.

The building of a competent, clean and honest force of civil servants has a direct bearing on realizing the goal set by the central authorities that governments at all levels must govern in accordance with the law and in the interest of the people.

Rome was not built in a day. Three decades are not a long enough period for the building of a modern civil service. Looking back, it is not difficult to see the progress we have made in this regard.

But they are just the beginning, and we still have a long way to go before we can boast of a modern civil service.

(China Daily May 8, 2008)