Looking back at major corruption cases: Not thinking ahead will surely make you sad in the near future

The ancients once concluded that “People who do not know how to think far ahead will surely be sad near ahead”. 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, know how to look far ahead, remember tomorrow when eating today, calculate in advance and in the future when doing anything, measure the pros and cons so that the ultimate goal is to gain more than lose, contribute to making laughter more joyful than tears, so that the village has more joy than lamentation and sadness.

From a national perspective, any era, any society, any organization needs people who know how to think ahead. People who know how to think ahead are people who not only clearly recognize the advantages, potentials, and strengths of their nation, community, and organization, but more than that, they must also thoroughly see the weaknesses, limitations, and bad habits in each specific organization and person 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 nation building, consolidating the people's hearts, preserving the country's beauty and preventing and repelling problems that hinder the nation's progress. One of the most obvious actions, which has received 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 the remarkable achievements.

Three is fine.

With the public trial of the defendant Dinh La Thang, a former Politburo member, phrases such as “the law is impartial”, anti-corruption no longer involves “bathing from the shoulders down”, no “forbidden zones”, no “exceptions”… 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, to have the 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, starting from 1998 when the Central Resolution (6th time, 8th term), although it has achieved some remarkable results, in reality - as our Party admits - it 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 liability. Resolutely reorganizing the ranks, tightening discipline, and cutting off the "tumors" that are corroding the "body" of the Party is a 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 care about their daily meals, but also sometimes enthusiastically and passionately gossip and whisper to each other about the "big guys and big girls" 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 "network 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 saying of the leader of our Party. Many leaders and managers have been educated properly, 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 work and the negative side of the market mechanism that entices and influences them, they have fallen and paid the price. But not only do they and their families suffer, but their organizations, agencies, enterprises 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-dong 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 “worry about the future” 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 rampantly and mischievously” in many agencies, organizations, and enterprises because our country’s mechanisms and policies in the past have not been synchronized, overlapped, and have many loopholes, so few “cats” can “bear” the sight of a “pot of grease” 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.

In recent times, in many localities, agencies, enterprises, etc., Party secretaries, directors, general directors, and chairmen of the board of members have become “little kings” in both the literal and figurative sense. These are “super-powerful” positions that, when the supervision mechanism is lax, the inspection mechanism is general, and the mechanism for promoting democracy is distorted, have unintentionally created the premise for them to become authoritarian, patriarchal, privileged, and privileged. 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 about 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 “Controlling power, preventing and combating the abuse of power and positions” has received much public attention. 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 and degenerate 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 as much of the corrupt assets as possible is also a way to return the assets that have absorbed the effort, sweat, and tears of millions of honest workers.

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 and 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 still 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!