Former General Secretary Le Kha Phieu - The 'commander' of anti-corruption

General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong presents the 70-year Party badge to former General Secretary Le Kha Phieu (2019). Photo courtesy

The arguments go with the times

During his tenure as General Secretary of the Party Central Committee, General Secretary Le Kha Phieu made many intellectual contributions to the country. General Secretary Le Kha Phieu signed and issued Resolution No. 10-NQ/TW dated February 2, 1999 of the 6th Conference (2nd time) of the Party Central Committee (VIII tenure) on "Some basic and urgent issues in the current Party building work" (Resolution of the 6th Central Committee, 2nd time, VIII tenure). The Resolution has 10 theses, of which the 5th thesis clearly states: "Focus on directing the effective fight against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy". The content of this thesis has 5 points clearly stating:

The first: Party committees and leaders at all levels and sectors from the central to the grassroots level must be responsible for fighting corruption in their respective areas of responsibility. The Politburo assigns a number of Politburo members, and Party committees assign members of the Standing Committee to directly direct the fight against corruption, waste and bureaucracy. When corruption, waste and negative phenomena occur in localities, sectors, agencies and units under their responsibility, disciplinary measures will be considered for the Party committees and leaders in terms of responsibility, depending on the level and nature of the violation.

Monday: Party committees and inspection committees at all levels, together with inspection, investigation, prosecution and court agencies, must grasp the situation and promptly inspect, conclude and promptly and legally handle denunciations about ethics and negative lifestyles of Party committee members and heads of agencies, first of all, Central Committee members, heads of committees, ministers, Party committee secretaries, chairmen of People's Committees of provinces, centrally-run cities and key officials in the political system.

Tuesday:Continuously improve policies and laws, first of all on budget management, enterprise asset management, and land management to promote positive aspects and limit negative aspects. Socio-economic, cultural, security, defense, and foreign affairs programs must all have measures to practice thrift and prevent corruption.

Wednesday: Synchronously use the system of monitoring cadres and party members, especially the supervision of party organizations, first of all from party cells, the supervision of the people and people's representative agencies, and the supervision of public opinion. Strengthen the organization and have a strict management mechanism to ensure that inspection, examination, and law enforcement agencies are clean and strong to serve as the core for the fight against corruption and smuggling.

Thursday:Direct the media to set an example of "good people, good deeds" and introduce the experiences of advanced models; condemn bad and evil things; actively fight against corruption, waste, bureaucracy and social evils; and oppose erroneous and hostile viewpoints.

Fighting corruption from people in power

Over the past 21 years since the 6th Central Committee Resolution, Session VIII, was issued, many issues have been concretized in leadership work and have gained strong vitality. The arguments of the 6th Central Committee Resolution, Session VIII are being continued to be promoted by the Party Central Committee and the Politburo under the strong direction of General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong.

Former General Secretary Le Kha Phieu. Photo: NT/LĐO

Former General Secretary Le Kha Phieu once directed that there needs to be a tight "binding" between the responsibility of the head of an organization and the "success" or "failure" of the agency for which the head of that organization is in charge.

Faced with the increasingly sophisticated situation of corruption and waste, he put forward the view: “Fighting corruption must start from public agencies, from people in positions of authority”. To clean up the apparatus, public agencies must be “integral”. To be transparent, corruption must be fought. Fighting corruption in public agencies is not about “fighting that agency” but fighting “the greed of people in that agency”. People in that agency are first of all the head of the organization, the person holding high and wide authority, then reaching the cadres and party members under their authority.

Solid soldier with simple virtue

At that time (2003) I was working in the mountainous district of Con Cuong (Nghe An). He visited the district (at that time he - comrade Le Kha Phieu - was no longer the General Secretary) and I was allowed to sit in the same car to take him to visit Khe Kem waterfall, located deep in the Pu Mat primeval forest.

At that time, the road to the waterfall was not paved, flat, and easy to travel like it is now. After a rain, it was very slippery. When we got close to the waterfall, the cart got stuck. The guard and I got out of the cart to push it. Immediately, we saw the door on the side where the old man was sitting open and he quickly went to the back of the cart and... also pushed it. We did not let him do it, but he waved his hand and said, "I can do it." The guard understood him and said, "Let me do it, I can't stop you." Everyone stared at him bending down to push the cart with the two brothers. At that time, it would have been wonderful to take a photo, but we didn't have time because everything happened so quickly. What a soldier!

When he returned, some young men in the forest recognized him and wanted to take a photo with him but were still shy. Guessing his intention, he waved back and asked, “You want a photo? Then let’s take one.” How simple.

Always remember the decisive style of a soldier, the simple, close, everyday virtue of the old man.

Writing this with respect and sorrow, I offer incense to send you off to the eternal world!

Nguyen Van Thong