The proper body to resolve conflicts is the judicial authorities, said an article in the Southern Metropolis Daily (excerpts below).

The Beijing News reported that the government will reform its petition-by-letter-and-complaint system.

The government will no longer rank local governments according to the number of letters and complaints from their jurisdiction and local governments should try to solve local conflicts in the place where the conflicts arose.

This is a good reform, downplaying the ranking system. But it entails a series of reforms in other fields. Whether the people's problems can be solved or not does not depend on where and how they express their complaints, but who can heed them and help them to solve the issues.

Since many public petitions and complaints are targeted at the malpractice of grassroots governments, the local governments lack the independence to deal with the accusations against themselves.

Statistics show that more than 70 percent of public petitions and complaints are related to lawsuits and laws. The lawmakers must amend the Administrative Litigation Law to make the judicial system the most effective channel for the public to solve their disputes with the governments.