Hidden interest groups can hurt social justice more than corruption

WANG ZUXUE, deputy director of the local environmental protection bureau in Boxing county, East China's Shandong province, hit the director of local education bureau because his wife failed to get a teaching post at a public school in the county. Beijing Times comments:

It seems Wang has no sense of the rules. According to the local reform plan, as a public school teacher his wife must apply for the position and beat the other candidates in order to retain her post. If Wang regards the competition result as unfair, he can complain to the higher authorities.

However, there is also a possibility that the local education reformers have broken some hidden rules by not letting Wang's wife pass the competition. Many local officials have formed closed interest groups, and for Wang, the incident may be far more than a job for his wife - it might represent a challenge to his role in or membership of an interest group and he was defending that.