Looking back at major corruption cases: Not thinking ahead will surely lead to sadness in the near future.

The ancients once concluded that “People who do not know how to think ahead will surely be sad in the near future”. The implication of the saying is to advise people not to be too easy-going, frivolous, superficial, short-sighted, and short-sighted; but it is very advisable and necessary to think carefully, to look far and wide, to remember tomorrow when eating today, to calculate in advance and in the future when doing anything, to measure the pros and cons so that the ultimate goal is to gain more than lose, to contribute to making laughter more than tears, to bring more joy to the village than lamentation and sadness.

From a national perspective, any era, any society, any organization needs people who can think ahead. A person who can think ahead is someone who not only clearly recognizes the advantages, potentials, and strengths of his or her nation, community, or organization, but more than that, must also thoroughly see the weaknesses, limitations, and bad habits in each specific organization and individual in order to have measures to overcome them.

It is gratifying that in recent years, the far-sighted people of our Party and State have truly thought about the fate of the country, worried about the future and fate of more than 90 million Vietnamese people, so they have taken drastic actions in the work of building the country, consolidating the people's hearts, preserving the country and preventing and repelling problems that hinder the nation's progress. One of the most obvious actions, with the most "plus points" in the hearts of the people, is the fight against corruption and negativity in the Party and State apparatus, which has been widely deployed, thoroughly implemented and initially brought about very positive results and effects.

Looking back at major corruption cases brought to trial recently, if we string together the issues, it is not difficult to see what has been very noteworthy.

Three are fine.

With the public trial of the defendant Dinh La Thang, a former Politburo member, phrases like “the law is impartial”, anti-corruption no longer involves “bathing from the shoulders down”, no “forbidden zones”, no “exceptional cases”… have never been affirmed as strongly and consistently as at this time. That shows that we have been and are putting the discipline of the law on the right track, requiring all citizens, regardless of their position, anywhere, to have awareness, responsibility and duty to “respect the law”. If anyone disregards the law, sooner or later they will be punished appropriately by the law.

The task of Party building and rectification has been set for 20 years now, starting from 1998 when the Central Resolution (6 times 2, term VIII), although it has achieved some remarkable results, in reality - as our Party admits - has not yet met the requirements and tasks set. However, the Party rectification work has really had an unprecedented movement in the history of our Party, especially since the beginning of the 12th Party Congress term up to now, with the evidence being that more than 20 senior Party officials have been strictly disciplined, the right person, the right crime, including some who have been prosecuted for criminal responsibility. Resolutely reorganizing the ranks, tightening discipline, cutting off the "tumors" that are rotting the "body" of the Party is a prominent bright spot in the current Party building and rectification work.

What is more meaningful is that our Party and State have been regaining the people's hearts, promoting the strength of the people's hearts, and strengthening people's trust in the fight against the "national disaster" of corruption. There has never been a time when almost anywhere, anyone, whether a tea seller, a motorbike taxi driver, a farmer... who seems to only know how to worry about their daily bread and clothes, but also sometimes enthusiastically and passionately gossip and whisper to each other about the "big guys" being disciplined, dismissed from office, brought to court... This shows that, on the one hand, the fight against corruption by our Party and State is having a strong vitality, fiercely attacking even the "dens" of corruption with countless sophisticated plots and surrounded by an extremely intricate "tangle of group interests"; on the other hand, our people still respect the Party, placing great trust and expectations in this arduous, complicated, and sensitive fight.

Three losses

However, besides the above mentioned things, we cannot help but feel sad and sorry about the unexpected losses.

The most notable is the loss of cadres. We do not enjoy disciplining our comrades and teammates - is a sentimental statement of the leader of our Party. Many leaders and managers have been educated, have struggled in practice, have gone through the mountains and seas, shared hardships with workers, have had years of careful training and maturity, have been looked up to and expected by many people for their dedication and contributions, but then partly because they themselves did not persistently cultivate and strictly protect themselves, partly because of loopholes in social management and the negative side of the market mechanism that entices and influences them, they have fallen and had to pay the price. But not only their individuals and families are in pain, but their organizations, agencies, businesses and more broadly, our Party and State have also suffered losses in terms of cadre work!

Along with the loss of staff, we also suffered heavy economic losses. In addition to the amount of money lost due to embezzlement, waste, and negativity amounting to thousands of billions of dong, more sadly, there are dozens of trillion-dollar projects that have been "started" but cannot be "moved", many projects have even gone bankrupt, causing thousands of workers and laborers to fall into the risk of unemployment, or irregular work, unstable income, thereby increasing the burden of solving social security issues.

Because of the loss of officials and economic losses in major corruption cases, it has invisibly caused the consequence of slowing down the country's development, limiting the economic growth rate, national income, and national labor productivity, thereby increasing the gap between rich and poor, negatively affecting the goal of implementing social justice policies. This loss is not easy for everyone to recognize, but it is the most painful thing.

Three things that cannot be delayed

Returning to the saying of our ancestors, we will surely be “sad in the near future” if we do not continue to “think ahead” at a higher level, think more deeply, and roll up our sleeves to do more urgent work. One of the urgent tasks now is to quickly “patch” loopholes in mechanisms and policies and perfect the legal system. Reality shows that corruption sometimes “acts out in the open” in many agencies, organizations, and enterprises because of the mechanisms and policies of our country in the past that are not synchronized, overlapping, and have many loopholes, so few “cats” can “bear” the sight of the “pot of fat” being exposed right in front of them!

But the underlying cause is that the mechanism for controlling the power of leaders in agencies, organizations and enterprises is not strict and specific enough to prevent violations and corruption of officials.

Recently, in many localities, agencies, enterprises, etc., Party secretaries, directors, general directors, and chairmen of the board of members have become "little kings" both literally and figuratively. These are "super-powerful" positions that, when the supervision mechanism is lax, the inspection mechanism is general, and the democracy promotion mechanism is distorted, have unintentionally created the premise to turn them into authoritarian, patriarchal, privileged, and privileged people. The higher the power, the greater the risk of personality degeneration if there is not a strong enough power control mechanism. This has been raised and warned for many years, but unfortunately, up to now, there has not been a mechanism to lock up power as desired by our Party leaders.

Therefore, the recent information about the Central Organizing Committee preparing a draft on the topic "Controlling power, preventing and combating the abuse of power and positions" has received a lot of attention from the public. Hopefully, this regulation will soon be issued and put into practice, thereby creating a basis and premise to prevent, reduce and eventually eliminate "little kings" in the public apparatus and in state-owned enterprises.

Major corruption cases will sooner or later be thoroughly tried. Then, corrupt officials will have to face punishments corresponding to the crimes they have committed. But what the public is concerned about and expects now is that the issue of recovering corrupt assets must be carried out more urgently, resolutely, and effectively. Recovering the maximum amount of corrupt assets of corrupt people is also a way to return assets that have absorbed the effort, sweat, and tears of millions of honest working people.

And looking at the recent major corruption cases, recalling the admonition of our ancestors, "Those who do not know how to plan for the future will surely be sad in the near future", we sincerely hope that those officials who have more or less shown signs of "being dirty" but have not been discovered will soon voluntarily wash their hands, do not let their "hands and faces be dirty" and then fall into the tragic situation of losing their reputation. The terrible examples of many "corrupt officials" who have just "fallen from their horses" are still right before our eyes! Let no one forget that, no matter how sophisticated or skillful the hand is, it is not capable of covering the sun, because the sun symbolizes the light of justice, of fairness and justice, so "running from the sky cannot escape the sun" for that reason!