(Minghui.org) I'm an engineer in a city government bureau. I started practicing Falun Gong in 1998.
I was a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Even though I announced my withdrawal from the CCP and its affiliated organizations on The Epoch Times website, the people in my unit still thought that I was a Party member.
I noticed that whenever a politically sensitive issue arose, government officials usually put it aside instead of solving it. If they cannot sidestep an issue, they do what others do. It's extremely hard for an official to be a pioneer.
In 2010 I looked into the Party guidelines to see how to withdraw from it. The first step is to stop paying the Party dues, so I stop paying them. I advised my colleagues and supervisors to quit their memberships and I told them how to do it. When about half of them had withdrawn, I thought it was time for me to be an example for others who wished to quit.
When I told them what I planned, my bureau director and the other officials were worried and not sure what to do. I patiently explained, “The Party constitution stipulates that one joins it voluntarily and can withdraw from it freely. The withdrawal process is covered by the constitution.
“I no longer wish to be a Party member. If the Party wants me, according to the guidelines, you can arrange for someone to talk to me or have a meeting of the Party branch committee to discuss my withdrawal. You can report the issue to the upper-level Party committee to get approval and register the case with the Party Organization Department.”
They did as I suggested. My bureau director, my bureau's Party secretary, and the office director talked with me separately. I clarified the facts to them and explained why so many people in China are withdrawing from the Party.
They accepted what I told them, but the bureau Party secretary became upset and said he had to stop me from withdrawing. I explained why I'd decided to withdraw from the Party. He said, “Think it over. This is not something that should be decided in one day. It's fine if you don't pay your membership fees.”
A colleague later told me that the accounting bureau department kept paying my membership fees each month.
When a new director and Party secretary were appointed to my bureau, the secretary quit his membership in the CCP and its organizations on The Epoch Times website. He asked me about not paying his Party dues. I explained how and he submitted a formal application to withdraw from the Party and applied for approval according to the Party constitution.
The application is another opportunity to clarify the facts. The secretary promised to follow up and discuss the issue with the bureau director.
A month later I said, “How about my application?” He smiled and said, “I am new in this position. I should not have accepted your application.”
Two years passed, and another new director and new Party branch secretary were appointed to my bureau. This secretary was a strong supporter of the Party. He said evasively after listening to me clarify the facts, “What you say is partially true,”
I submitted my application to withdraw again. He agreed to process it and to discuss it with the bureau director. However, there was no response for a long time.
Just when I thought my situation was hopeless, the CCP Organization Department issued an order to cleanse the Party membership. That was good news for me.
I visited my bureau's Party secretary twice. He finally said that he would ask the CCP Organization Department. The Department responded, “Withdrawal from the Party can be done according to the recent order.
“However, a meeting of the Party branch must be held and the other members must give him a negative review; the city Party Committee has to meet to approve the withdrawal and report it to the Party Organization Department for the record.
“This is the first time someone in a governmental department has applied to withdraw from the Party in this city. This case must be handled carefully.”
I did not participate in the meeting of my bureau's Party branch for my review. Nineteen people participated in the meeting. I got 13 negative reviews and 6 positive ones.
I asked my colleagues about it, “Each department was sent a notice to give me a negative review. Otherwise, my application could not be approved.”
One colleague pulled the review form from his pocket and showed it to me. He said, “I did not fill it out. The results must be fabricated. Where did they get 19 forms?” My other colleagues laughed and said that the CCP is good at fabrications.
A colleague in charge of political matters told me a few days later, “Your application is approved. Two people in the city are approved to formally withdraw. The other person is from a business. You are the first person who works in a government position in this city to formally withdraw from the Party and to receive permission to do so.”
Master taught us,
“Dafa disciples are to do what Dafa disciples are supposed to do, openly and with confidence. When you [are able to do that] and have no thoughts of being dependent on other people or things, the evil won't dare to exploit your gaps, and bad things will flee at the mere sight of you, because you have no omissions that it can exploit.” (Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005)
As a practitioner, I know that I've done the most righteous thing. I know that no matter how difficult the process is, the outcome will be the best as long as I do things according to the principles of the Fa.