Culture and the fight against corruption

There is an extremely important weapon, or perhaps the most important weapon, in the fight against corruption: culture.

Illustration photo.

The Party's anti-corruption fight led by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is the largest anti-corruption fight in the entire history of Vietnam at all levels: system, people and assets.

Hundreds of trials have been conducted with the right people and the right crimes. However, the impact of corruption is still long-lasting and threatens to continue to destroy people's trust in the system, destroy the foundation of social morality and hinder the country's development. Seeing that, we can see the importance and urgency of the fight against corruption.

The fight against corruption is not only to prevent the State's and the People's assets from being stolen and put into the pockets of a few individuals in power, not only to clean up the political system, not only to restore part of the People's trust in the broken institution but also to protect the dignity of a nation.

For the fight against corruption to be successful, both legally and spiritually, the determination, steadfastness and unwaveringness of the entire political system headed by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is the only key to success in this particularly difficult struggle.

The enemy of the nation in the two resistance wars for independence, freedom and national unification was very clear. Under the leadership of the Party and the will of the People, we have overcome and won. However, in the days of peace and in the period when the country is developing, our enemy is extremely complex, scheming, clever, not easy to identify and sometimes very vague. Unlike our enemy in war, the enemy of the nation in peacetime is beside us, laughing and talking with us, having dinner with us and sometimes participating in a political organization with us.

Culture helps every nation to create human and national conscience. When there is conscience, it means that people possess the best qualities. That is self-respect, love for fellow human beings, sharing, dedication and “THE WAY” of being human.

About 20 years ago, in an interview with a provincial police chief published in the An ninh The gioi cuoi thang newspaper, a reporter asked, “Which are you afraid of, guns of criminals or money? ” The police chief at that time seemed to shrink and said, “I am afraid of money.” The fight against corruption in recent years has eloquently proven that the fear of the provincial police chief 20 years ago was true. That statement continues to warn us.

The truth has been proven in a horrifying way that we cannot deny when there are high-ranking officials in the political system who have collapsed because of money. If at this time someone comes in front of them and offers 1 million USD to induce someone to surrender, they may walk past that person. But with 10 million USD, 100 million USD and more, someone may start to panic and risk accepting to accompany the crime even though they know it is a crime.

The above-mentioned cadres who fell for money were once educated, well-trained and had proven their abilities at some point. But at some point, they no longer had the will to continue and they fell. They could not complete the path they had chosen. Materialism had overcome their conscience.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at the National Cultural Conference, November 2021.

If we observe, we see that parallel to the fight against corruption is the cultural revival campaign, the important highlight of which is the National Cultural Conference chaired by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in November 2021.

At this Conference, the General Secretary reiterated the truth of President Ho Chi Minh when talking about culture: “Culture lights the way for the nation” and affirmed: “As long as culture exists, the nation exists”. The Party’s fight against corruption has been and is promptly preventing the degradation of a number of Party members and officials with power. But there is an extremely important weapon, or one could say the most important, in the fight against corruption: culture.

Culture makes each individual always have the ability to question his own behavior with his family and community, culture makes each individual understand what happiness is and culture makes people feel ashamed of their base desires. When people know how to question themselves, understand the meaning of happiness, feel ashamed and repent, they know how to decide their behavior. From there, selfishness, greed, and personal hedonism are stopped by conscience.

Thirty years ago, in a conversation with parents of a high school about life orientation for teenagers before becoming citizens of a country, a parent suggested that writers write a handbook about the pitfalls in life so that their children can foresee and avoid them. I told the parents: If writers write a handbook with 1,000 pitfalls, then when their children enter life and encounter the 1,001st pitfall, they may fall into the trap. The most important thing is that we must sow the seeds of beauty in the souls of children. When the tree called beauty grows and flourishes in a person's soul, that person understands beauty.

The Party's fight against corruption has been and is preventing the degradation of a number of Party members and officials in power. But there is an extremely important weapon, or perhaps the most important weapon, in the fight against corruption: culture.

When people understand beauty, they will be able to recognize what is BEAUTIFUL and what is UGLY. And thus, they will overcome all the pitfalls of this life. When they know the amount of money that some corrupt criminals have embezzled from the assets of the State and the People, many people have to exclaim: "Why do they need such a large amount of money?".

The need for a corrupt criminal himself is not to need such a large amount of money for himself and his family. But the need for his greed and lack of conscience does not allow him to stop. If he had the ability to torment his conscience, if he had the ability to ask himself where his wealth comes from, if he had the ability to feel ashamed of his theft, he would stop. Such “abilities” can only be born from culture.

Therefore, culture is the torch that lights the way for a person and a nation to find their way in the darkness of their soul and walk towards the light.

The legal system and anti-corruption agencies are the last belt in the fight against corruption. But the first and most important belt is culture. A person, a community that contains within itself culture (beauty) will overcome the darkness of greed.

The most important and effective “weapon” against Evil is conscience, and all other “tools” are secondary. Therefore, we have a deeper understanding of the concrete, direct struggle against corruption and the revival of national culture. That is the great ideology of a nation.

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