No need for officials who violate law

Qiu He, deputy head of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, is investigated. [Photo/IC]

That Qiu He, former deputy Party chief of Yunnan province, has been put under investigation for violating Party discipline and the country's laws does not come as a surprise.

Way back in 2007, when many media outlets praised him for his single-minded pursuit of urban development reform, I warned through my articles that his actions went against the law. This was before he became deputy Party chief of Yunnan. In Feb 2007, I described in an article in the Science of Law magazine what kind of officials were needed to build a harmonious society after reading reports praising Qiu for his supposedly tough reform measures.

Many of Qiu's administrative decisions were illegal. And other officials should be warned not to follow Qiu's example, because he lacked proper understanding of the rule of law.

In the 2007 article, I analyzed several administrative actions taken by Qiu. For instance, after assuming office in Muyang county, Jiangsu province, Qiu forced about 5,000 civil servants to clean the streets because he was unhappy with the look of the county. To put it mildly, he had no right to coerce his subordinates to do the work of street cleaners.

In Muyang and Suqian, Qiu compelled officials to pay fines for reporting late for official meetings when he had no authority to do so. When he started a road-building campaign in Muyang, he deducted 10 to 20 percent from local civil servants' salaries for a road-building fund and forced local farmers to work as laborers without payment. Those actions were without any legal basis and violated people's rights.