The State Council's approval Wednesday of the resignation of Ma Fucai, the ministerial-level head of China's biggest state-owned oil company, has rung alarms for all the country's senior cadres to rally their sense of duty.

Ma, general manager of the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), admitted his negligence in security measures that led to the Dec.23 gas blow at a well owned by a CNPC subsidiary in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

The blowout, the country's deadliest recent industrial disaster,left 243 people dead from toxic fumes when a careless drilling crew broke open a gas well and dismantled safety equipment that might have stopped the blowout.

"Though Ma was not legally found guilty, he has shouldered his political and moral responsibilities for the accident through resignation, which will favor the government to form a strict system of accountability and urging cadres to take responsibility for errors," said Du Gangjian, professor with the National School of Administration.

For a long time, the Chinese public have been accustomed to a stereotype of how accidents are handled. People who directly causeaccidents usually get punishment, but related government officialsusually approach with a lofty pose, showing their concern and organizing rescue and investigation.

In some cases, mistakes or negligence of these officials have indirectly led to the accidents. However, it's hard to force them to take responsibility since they haven't broken any laws or regulations, Du said.

"So Ma's resignation is not accidental. It can be traced to thepersistent severe penalties the government has taken against officials guilty of accidents," Du said, noting the new central leadership is striving to build a responsible image featuring the "people first" principle.

During the SARS crisis last spring, the government punished nearly 1,000 government officials, including former Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang and former Mayor of Beijing Meng Xuenong, forhiding epidemic information or slack reactions in fighting the disease.

The Wednesday's State Council executive meeting also asked relevant departments to severely punish those responsible for a Lantern Festival stampede in Beijing's suburban Miyun County on Feb. 5 killing 37 and a shopping mall fire in northeast China's Jilin Province killing 51 on Feb. 15.

Actually, immediately after the two accidents, Premier Wen Jiabao had urgently ordered a thorough investigation into the causes, stern penalties for the guilty parties, strict implementation of security protection measures and deep introspection on the lessons.

"The government is being more serious when handling accidents, showing its resolution to intensify cadres' sense of duty and to enhance administration according to law," said Mao Shoulong, professor with the public administration department of the People's University of China.

The approval of Ma's resignation also shocked the masses of Netizens, stirring both praise and rational pondering.

"It has reminded officials and company leaders that they are treading on eggshells and what 'burdens are heavier than mountains' means to them. Hopefully they will really be responsible for people's life and property security," said a netizen nicknamed "Withered Vine".

Jin Taijun, director of the administration department of the Nanjing Normal University, considered the bearing of the resignation went far beyond the legal penalty. It functioned as supervision over proper power use of cadres, which would help improve the government's image and enhance the public's trust and closeness to it.

But experts also deem it necessary to institutionalize the system of investigating and punishing officials, which asks for specific definition of their responsibilities and obligations as well as clear operational procedures.

Source: Xinhua