[ISSUE 8] by CHERISH

kidloveUID: 2814224

TOPIC: ISSUE8 - "It is oftennecessary, even desirable, for political leaders to withhold information fromthe public."
WORDS: 700
TIME: 00:50:00
DATE: 2011/2/13 15:49:02

In the statement, the author claims that itshould be advocated that the government withholds information from the public,which is for the public's good. However, insofar I concede with the author thatto some extent, it is necessary for the government to retain some kinds ofinformation out of the public's eyes, but it will be better for a country to berelatively transparent to its citizens.
We cannot deny that although the Age ofInformation has abridged the distance among different nations into a globalvillage, there still exist different representatives of a nation’s wealth andbenefit and that conflicts and competitions are still lying across differentnations which hold distinctive values and powers. Wars, competition on economy,natural resources, religious problems, etc., are the heated discussion aroundthe world. In order to protect one nation, the national government would haveto retain information from the public in considerations for used by the hostileforces. For example, the military power has always been the most confidentialsecrets of every nation, on which they are making efforts in researching,making experiments, but in a secret way. The travelling route of the presidentof one nation must be kept as top secret as to not be known by assassinates.These kinds of issues should be held by certain groups contained few people ofthe nation for they are about the safety of one nation.
However, a nation's responsibility is tooperate the nation to function and bring welfares to its people. A country thatis responsible and have full consideration of its people, the government mustopen the door to the public, only by this way can the people informed aboutwhat the nation is going to do, what kind of policies would the governmentapply to manipulate in the society in order to improve people's livingstandard; what is the goal the government had set to attain in the next fiveyears; what have the national conferences discussed; how much money has thegovernment spent in constructing the roads, etc. The public has the right toknow everything that is related with their well-being and the future of thenation. A nation withholds everything from the public and alert of releasing informationto citizen is horrible. Take the book 1984 written by George Orwell forexample. In the book, the Big Brother holds information from the public thateven the country is at war with other countries, the government still tells itscitizens everything is alright and keeps working as the Big Brother commands.The history, the country's welfare, books, newspapers have long been blockedfrom the public, even real information are modified by the government in orderto present a false appearance to fool the public. Making the administrativeaffairs to the public is the best way to invite everyone to participate in theconstruction of one country, and thus can the public be loyal and satisfied ofthe country.
At the same time, open to administrativeaffairs to the public can in some ways to gather support from the public. Inthe year of 2003, the pandemic disease SARS had broken in the North of China.At the beginning, the local government thought it was not a big deal and didn'treport the situation to the central government. When later the disease spreadquickly, among the place and had done casualty to the place, the governmentbecame afraid of being condemned and then avoided to release the news to thepublic. Thanks for later the efforts and lives the whole nation hadcontributed, can the Chinese people overcame the disaster. If at first the newswas reported to the nation on time, they would have found the treatment andrefrained from losing so many lives. Unless the government is transparent tothe public on issues concerning with the social problems, safety, and welfaresof the citizens, can the country gain support and prosperity.
To sum up, I concede that sometimes thegovernment have the right to reserve some information from the public, but onthe other hand the government should be open to the public other informationabout the construction, administrations of the country in order to build abetter nation.