|
EDITORIAL: Ma must
start walking the walk
Eliminating corruption was a pledge President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) stressed during
his presidential election campaign as one of his core principles.
However, the recent spate of bribery allegations involving high-ranking
government officials has given rise to concern over the nation’s deteriorating
stance on corruption.
Following the indictment of former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih
(林益世) in late October — in which he was accused of demanding bribes, pocketing
about NT$60 million (US$2.02 million) in bribes, concealing illegal gains and
keeping unaccountable assets — Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿)
of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was detained on Nov. 30 on charges of
corruption and violations of the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法). Prosecutors
suspect that he received kickbacks from contractors who won bids for fixing
roads damaged by typhoons.
Amid these scandals, a string of reports by the Chinese-language Next Magazine
implicated Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and members of his family in Lin’s
alleged corruption. Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) was accused in
another Next Magazine report on Wednesday last week of having met with Lee in
Nantou on the day Lee was implicated in a corruption case, and
Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) was accused of visiting the Nantou
Prosecutors’ Office the day Lee was summoned by prosecutors for questioning.
These reports triggered suspicion over the intent of their visits at such a
sensitive time.
Then there was the allegation involving former National Fire Agency
director-general Huang Chi-min (黃季敏), who on Tuesday was indicted on charges of
receiving bribes from contractors during his term in office.
It is little wonder that in a survey released by the Taiwan Foundation for
Democracy earlier this month, corruption was the issue chosen by the public as
their greatest source of discontent, scoring 1.9 points on a scale of one to
five (with a score of five representing the highest satisfaction and zero
representing the highest discontent).
Where, then, is the fury from Ma, the president with a trademark emphasis on
fostering clean government?
Many vividly recall a seminar held in July that all Cabinet-level and
high-ranking officials were required to attend, in which Ma lectured them on the
importance of integrity.
“When dealing with cases of possible corruption, we must handle things by
actively uncovering the corruption, rapidly dealing with it, cooperating with
investigations and keeping the public informed. The most important thing is the
attitude of government leaders. We should not be afraid to air our dirty laundry
in public. Honesty is the best policy, and as long as we take the initiative to
uncover corruption and keep the public informed in a timely manner, the public
will not lose its trust in the government,” Ma said.
He also reiterated his “four noes” on civil servants’ conduct: No desire to be
corrupt, no need to be corrupt, no opportunity to be corrupt and no daring to be
corrupt, because the penalties for corruption are severe.
Many would say that those are rousing words and quite sincere, but when words
are not followed by concrete action, they are but words. While some may argue
that Ma could easily chalk up establishing the Agency Against Corruption as an
achievement, the question is: What good is an agency that exists in name only
and lacks the teeth it needs to root out corruption?
Ma should remember that good intentions alone are not enough and he is advised
to tone down his rhetoric and start walking the walk. Until he unleashes his
wrath by undertaking concrete actions and initiating anti-graft measures with
firm determination, the public has every reason to doubt his resoluteness in
eradicating government corruption.
|
