http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-01/08/content_9285365.htm
Corruption prevention vital
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-08 07:56
The fight against corruption is like a therapy to cure a disease. It should not
just address the symptom but help build the immune system up to reduce the
chances for officials to become corrupt.
That is why we should never be complacent with a certain number of corrupt
officials we have unearthed in a year or the number of cases authorities has
cracked.
What is encouraging from last year's crackdown figures is the fact that more
than 180,000 leading officials at various levels have reported where their
spouses and offspring are working. This is important progress, given the fact
that thousands of officials have shifted their financial savings abroad by
first emigrating their spouses or children abroad. The officials themselves
then go abroad at a proper time.
As early as 2004, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the
Communist Party of China began the practice of keeping such information on file
on a trial basis. It has now been implemented nationwide as compulsory for
leading officials.
But the number of officials who have reported this is a fraction among the
millions of leading officials at all levels and in different institutions.
The remote city of Altay in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region became the
first city to launch on a trial basis the practice of government officials
declaring their properties last year, more than 20 years after the idea was
first proposed in 1988. This suggests how hard it has been to employ any
preemptive measure against the abuse of power.
Look at the figures last year: More than 5,000 government delegations that were
destined for overseas trips were canceled; more than 24,000 leading officials
handed in cash, bonds or coupons worth 160 million yuan ($23.5 million) that
they illegally received; more than 1,000 houses that had been illegally
occupied by leading officials were confiscated. The statistics show how serious
some leading officials have abused their power and how hard the fight will be
in the future.
The report that 67 officials including the director and deputy directors of the
bureau of land and resources in the city of Lishui, Zhejiang province, were
found to have abused their power by accepting bribes last year speaks volumes
for how weak our corruption prevention mechanism is at the local level.
Despite the repeated call from central authorities every year to intensify the
fight and to establish a preemptive anti-corruption mechanism, there is a long
way to go before power can be effectively kept in check.
Strong oppositions from officials have slowed the process of implementing an
anti-corruption measure. It is even harder to keep them from not turning out to
be scarecrows that become useless in the end.
The central authorities' determination to fight against corruption is certainly
beyond doubt. We know it is not easy to keep power under effective control.
Yet, we have enough reason to feel optimistic because the fight is in the right
direction - to preempt rather than just fight the abuse of power.
Related readings:
Corruption blamed for Zhejiang's soaring housing prices
Corruption leads to high housing price
Corruption charges filed against SOE executives
Corruption hurting nation's image: Poll
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