'Small corruption, petty corruption also causes terrible destruction'

Party organizations must uphold responsibility, not disregard petty corruption and not disregard work in their localities and units.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has affirmed that in fighting corruption, “the whole furnace must be heated up” and “no one can avoid it, no one can stand aside”. That is a requirement, but also an order for all people.

At the central level, people have witnessed the Party's drastic intervention in the past. At the local level, the anti-corruption fight is also being vigorously fought by Party committees and organizations, with officials committing violations being dealt with.

Anti-corruption: No one can avoid, no one can stay out of it (Illustration photo)

Most recently, Ho Chi Minh City has decided to discipline many officials under the management of the City Party Committee.This disciplinary action was taken after the City Party Committee's Inspection Commission conducted an inspection when there were signs of violations against a number of party organizations and cadres and party members, and at the same time directed the organization to review and clarify responsibilities, consider and propose disciplinary action against collectives and individuals related to violations at the units.

In Hanoi, the city has also disciplined 51 officials in the construction sector. Because of the leaking of civil service exam questions, Ca Mau province has also disciplined 8 related officials... That shows positive signs of localities in the fight against corruption.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Trong Phuc, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, this is a welcome sign and the responsibility of local Party committees and Party organizations.

“Corruption is not only a problem of ethics and human personality but also causes economic damage. Corruption exhausts the country’s economy, affects the prestige of the Party and the quality of Party members. The recent disciplinary action against officials in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Ca Mau and some other localities has shown real involvement. Only by doing so can the anti-corruption work bring about practical results,” said Mr. Phuc.

It can be seen that during the 12th term of the Party, the Central Inspection Commission has taken real action, worked relatively systematically, focused on key issues and made public the inspection results. Here, it not only warned about specific incidents but also went to each locality to inspect.

This has a great effect on Party building and rectification and has a significant impact on the anti-corruption front. Through inspection, we not only fight corruption but also aim to rectify Party discipline and educate Party members and cadres. Through inspection, we detect cases related to corruption and deal with them.

Mr. Pham Tat Thang, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children, affirmed: "In a short period of time, a series of decisions and conclusions of the Central Inspection Committee, including those related to central-level officials and key leaders of localities, have committed violations, including those in office and retired.

In my opinion, this is a necessary task in the current period when there is general direction from the Party Central Committee and the Central Steering Committee on anti-corruption. It clearly shows that anyone, in any position and at any time, if they have made mistakes or shortcomings, must be considered and strictly handled in accordance with the regulations of the Party and the State.

How can the Inspection Committees of localities, provinces, cities, districts and counties really get involved? At the central level, the Central Inspection Committee works effectively because of the direction of the Central Committee, the Politburo and the General Secretary. As for the Inspection Committees of localities, if the Secretary and Standing Committee of the Party Committee in any province or locality really care about fighting corruption and give direction, then the Inspection Committees of that locality will really get involved. Therefore, the responsibility of the Party Committee and the local leaders here is very important. For localities to really get involved in fighting corruption, there needs to be coordination between the Party's inspection agency and the government's inspection agency. If coordination is good, cases will be discovered more clearly and brought to justice sooner.

Mr. Vo Cong Tri, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee, said: “Leading the fight against corruption in the current situation is very difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to further strengthen the leadership role of Party committees at all levels in the work of preventing and combating corruption, and include the task of inspecting and supervising the responsibilities of Party committees and leaders in the work of preventing waste and negativity in the annual inspection program of Party committees at all levels. At the same time, strengthen the inspection and supervision work in a number of areas, especially a number of key and sensitive areas where corruption and negativity often occur.”

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong once said that in the fight against corruption, “no one can avoid it, no one can stand aside”. However, in the fight against corruption, attention must be paid to “prevention”. Overall, handling corruption cases in recent times has brought positive results, however, small and petty corruption also causes terrible damage.

That requires Party organizations to uphold their responsibilities, not to disregard petty corruption and not to disregard the work in their localities and units. In the coming time, we need to be more drastic at the local level and down to the communes and wards. If we can do so, we can both prevent corruption and educate Party members and cadres, helping them to be truly diligent and work for the people and the country.

Mr. Nguyen Thai Hoc, Head of the Internal Affairs Committee of Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee, said: “Localities have seen that the Central Government is very determined and synchronous, but how will local Party committees get involved? Because internal affairs and anti-corruption issues must come from the grassroots, because that is where problems related to corruption cases and incidents arise. Therefore, the Central Government and localities must have synchronous coordination and high determination to better prevent and fight corruption.”

The most important thing now is still the "prevention" work in fighting corruption, because if there are still loopholes, "request-granting mechanisms", and "group interests" dominating, then no matter how much effort is put into handling known corruption cases, the source of corruption will still arise.

Therefore, anti-corruption work is important, as the General Secretary has said many times: "how to prevent those who intend to be corrupt from being corrupt", "must pay attention to preventing the risk of mistakes in policies, the risk of assigning the wrong cadres, and choosing the wrong cadres will lead to dangerous and unpredictable consequences"./.

According to VOV