Upholding Party General Secretary’s anti-corruption viewpoint: official

Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Chairman of its Commission for Internal Affairs Phan Dinh Trac has written an article on intensifying the prevention and control of corruption and other negative phenomena, contributing to building an increasingly transparent and strong Party and State following late Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s thought and viewpoint.

Trac, who is deputy head of the Central Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Corruption and Negative Phenomena and permanent deputy head of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform, affirmed that throughout his revolutionary career, in any position or field of work, from his early days as a young State employee to top positions in the Party and State, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was always deeply concerned with the work of building and rectifying the Party and fighting corruption and other negative phenomena. Particularly, as the head of the Central Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Corruption and Negative Phenomena, General Secretary Trong had exercised close, resolute leadership and direction with many important, profound viewpoints and policies, both theoretically and practically, demonstrating his vision, determination, wisdom, humanity, and persuasive power.

With his firm, persistent, and tireless leadership and direction, without any banned zones or exceptions, and with a strict yet very humane approach, exemplary revolutionary ethics, and consistency in words and actions of the General Secretary, the fight against corruption and negative phenomena has been carried out drastically, methodically, comprehensively and in-depth, thus bringing about significant results, creating a positive impact and strong ripple effect throughout the society, and leaving a profound impression on officials, Party members, the public, and international friends.

According to the official, although General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, an exceptionally outstanding leader with prominent qualities, talents, wisdom, and mettle who as a steadfast communist fighter had dedicated his all to the country and the people, has passed away, his thoughts and viewpoints will forever serve as a "guiding star" for the actions of the entire Party, army, and people. More than ever, Party committees and organisations, and each official and Party member must deeply grasp the late leader's guiding thoughts and continue to intensify the fight against corruption and negative phenomena, thereby contributing to building an increasingly clean and strong Party and State.

With his rich experience and sharp theoretical thinking, General Secretary Trong clearly stated that corruption is the congenital defect of power, which “takes place within us, is committed by people in positions of authority”. Therefore, the late leader stressed that combating corruption and negative phenomena is a struggle within each individual, within each, organisation, unit, and locality, involving material interests, money, positions, and the honour and reputation of organisations and individuals; it involves those who hold power and authority.

Trac stressed that the Party and State have noticed the problem early and have directed the drastic handling of the problem many times, but there is still much work to be done and it must be done in the long term, more resolutely, with greater determination, persistence, perseverance, and without haste. The General Secretary also requested that although the work should not be done in a hasty manner, we should not avoid or hold back the process. The fight against corruption and negative phenomena must be carried out regularly, continuously, resolutely and persistently, without stopping, slowing down, or slacking off.

The General Secretary affirmed that "the fight against corruption is a necessary and inevitable task, and an irreversible trend," "no matter how difficult it is, we must find every way to do it, do it by all means, do it to the end. If anyone feels discouraged, then step aside and let someone else do it”.

The General Secretary also believed that if everyone has high determination and consensus, and implements drastic and feasible measures with strict guidance and a correct, rational, and calm approach, without extremism or allowing bad forces to exploit, distort, incite, or sabotage, corruption and negative phenomena will be definitely prevented and gradually pushed back, Trac wrote, stressing that "when the furnace burns strong, even wet wood will burn."

Along with identifying the nature and harms of corruption, the General Secretary also pointed out the objective and subjective causes of corruption, emphasising that the primary causes are subjective, due to the people’s own shortcomings. Therefore, the late leader highlighted that the fundamental and direct cause of corruption is the degradation of political ideology, morality, and lifestyle, which means the failure to overcome individualism.

This is the root, the most dangerous thing that leads to corruption; and vice versa, corruption makes the degradation of political ideology, morality, and lifestyle more serious. Therefore, it is necessary to combine anti-corruption efforts with anti-negative phenomenon efforts, with emphasise placed on preventing and fighting the degradation of political ideology, morality, and lifestyle. Fighting corruption in money and assets is not enough, as money and assets can be recovered, but degradation of morality and ideology means the loss of everything. Therefore, fighting negative phenomena means treating corruption at its root.

At the same time, the General Secretary requested that the fight against corruption and negative phenomena must be combined with the building and rectification of the Party and the political system, and socio-economic development. The fundamental issue in this fight is to prevent it early and from far, with the focus on Party building and rectification, especially the prevention and control of ideological, moral, and lifestyle degradation among officials and Party members. He also requested special attention be paid to personnel work.

The General Secretary affirmed that the purpose of handling corruption and negative phenomena is to “treat the illness and save people”, to “discipline a few individuals to save many”, with warning, deterrence, education, and prevention as the core.

Therefore, he always demanded that corruption and negative phenomena must be dealt with resolutely and severely, but also reasonably and humanely, with the principle that all officials, Party members, public servants, and State employees, regardless of their position, must be promptly, strictly, and transparently handled for any violations. Actions must be taken consistently from the upper to lower levels, with no banned zones, no exceptions, no gaps, no special privileges, regardless of who the person is, and no compromise to pressure from any organisation or individual. Cases must be thoroughly investigated; and actions should be taken actively and promptly. If a case is determined to be criminal, it must be prosecuted and judged according to the law. If it does not reach the level of criminal prosecution, disciplinary actions must be taken in accordance with Party, State, and organisation regulations.

Severe actions must be taken against not only serious corruption and negative phenomena, but also those who harbour, cover up, or assist such activities. Additionally, individuals who take advantage of anti-corruption and negative phenomenon efforts to distort, incite, divide, or undermine the Party and State must also be dealt with firmly.

Meanwhile, Trac noted, General Secretary Trong always demanded corruption and other negative phenomena be settled in a stringent but also humanistic manner: detecting early; settling right from the beginning; preventing petty wrongdoings from accumulating into major irregularities; using education, deterrence, and prevention as the main tools, combining punishment with leniency; properly grasping objective, comprehensive, historical, and concrete viewpoints, differentiating persons committing violations due to personal motives from those without personal or profit-seeking motives; and prosecuting and bringing to trial even fleeing violators. Stringently dealing with many violating officials, even high-ranking ones, is not a wish of someone but a great pain, for the sake of the common cause, the strict discipline of the Party, the respect for the State’s law, the Party and State’s purity, strength and prestige, and the people’s aspiration; and it must be carried out and carried out resolutely.

The Party chief’s viewpoint is that the exercise of power must be controlled effectively to ensure power is practiced in an open, transparent, and righteous fashion in accordance with the principle that all power must be strictly controlled by mechanisms and bound by responsibility, responsibility is as big as power, the more power a person holds the greater responsibility he/she must bear; and that any who abuses or takes advantage of power must be held responsible and stringently handled.

General Secretary Trong requested that leaders at all levels must keep in mind that no one possesses absolute power beyond law, and any who exercises power must serve the people, hold responsibility towards the people, and voluntarily come under the people’s supervision. They must absolutely not abuse or take advantage of power, rely vaingloriously on their power, or turn straightness into bends. To those entrusted with positions and power, they must unceasingly make self-improvement and frequently make self-review and self-rectification, according to Trac.

He went on to say that the General Secretary asked for quickly perfecting and seriously implementing power control mechanisms, establishing a mechanism for the people to supervise and control power in a truly efficient and effective manner, and confining the exercise of power within an institutional cage.

The leader demanded that above others, the agencies and cadres in charge of fighting corruption and other negative phenomena must be clean and incorruptible. Therefore, the prevention and control of corruption and negative phenomena must be conducted in a serious and effective manner firstly within the agencies responsible for this task.

To prevent and push back corruption and other negative phenomena, Trac went on, General Secretary Trong ordered building a strict preventive mechanism so that cadres are “not able” to commit corruption and other negative phenomena, a stern deterrence and punishment mechanism so that they do “not dare” to commit corruption and other negative phenomena, and a guaranteeing mechanism so that they do “not want” or “not need” to commit corruption and other negative phenomena. This is the general viewpoint and principle for the combat against corruption and other negative phenomena and also one of the valuable lessons that the Party leader gained during his more than 10 years of direct leadership over this task.

To effectively carry out the “four not’s” principle, the General Secretary perceived that it is necessary to conduct institutional perfection so that regulations on socio-economic aspects, corruption and other negative phenomena combat, and the Party and political system building are highly stringent and without loopholes or shortcomings so that cadres are “not able to commit corruption and other negative phenomena”; to detect and deal with acts of corruption and other negative phenomena in a timely and strict manner, without off-limits zones or exceptions, so that cadres do “not dare to commit corruption and other negative phenomena”; to turn the culture of integrity, incorruptibility, and no negative phenomena into a way of life among cadres, Party members, civil servants, public employees, and people of all social strata so that they do “not want to commit corruption and other negative phenomena”; and to implement treatment and policies appropriate to the dedications and talent of cadres, civil servants, and public employees so that they do “not need to commit corruption and other negative phenomena”, Trac elaborated.

He added that in his revolutionary activities and leadership, General Secretary Trong always thoroughly grasped the invaluable historical lesson of “taking the people as the root”; truly trusting, respecting, and bringing into play the people’s right to mastery; tightening the relationship with the people, listening to the people, and relying on the people. It is a fact that there is nothing that the people do not know and nothing could escape the people’s notice; only when the people’s strength is fully brought into play could corruption and other negative phenomena be pushed back to create an irreversible movement and trend.

Therefore, the Party leader repeatedly underlined that the enormous strength and motivation of the fight against corruption and other negative phenomena come from the consensus, support, response, and active participation of the people, the entire political system, and the press, the core of which are the agencies in charge of preventing and controlling corruption and other negative phenomena such as the bodies for internal affairs, examination, inspection, auditing, investigation, prosecution, judging, and judgment enforcement. Without the people, it is difficult for the corruption combat to secure success.

Trac said corruption and other negative phenomena not only occur in the state sector but also receive support from those outside the sector. On the other hand, corruption is an international crime and a problem in many countries. Given this, General Secretary Trong requested the activities against corruption and other negative phenomena be implemented effectively in the non-state sector and cooperation with international partners in this regard enhanced. Measures for preventing and controlling corruption and other negative phenomena must also match the country’s traditional culture as well as the socialist-oriented market economy of Vietnam.

The leader also demanded stepping up the negotiations on and signing of mutual legal assistance agreements and anti-crime cooperation deals with other countries; coordinating closely with judicial agencies of other countries and international organisations to search, arrest, and extradite fleeing corruption criminals, transfer documents and evidence, and recover the corrupt assets hidden abroad; and actively taking part in international initiatives and forums while sharing experience in the work with other countries and international organisations.

The General Secretary asked for aligning domestic law with and enforcing the United Nations Convention against Corruption in accordance with the devised roadmap and in a manner matching Vietnam’s conditions; frequently making review and learning from experience; and relentlessly reforming the mindset and perfecting theories on the prevention and control of corruption and other negative phenomena in Vietnam.

With 80 years of age and nearly 60 years of diverse and unwavering revolutionary activities, Prof. Dr. Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong with his knowledgeable and keen mind has left a system of precious thoughts and theories on Vietnam’s revolutionary path in the new era for the entire Party, people, and army.

Throughout his revolutionary life, the combat against corruption and other negative phenomena, along with the building and rectification of the Party and political system, was particularly important to the Party leader. The entire Party, people, and army pledge to stay united and unanimous and make joint efforts to seize opportunities so as to surmount challenges and push forward with the fight against corruption and other negative phenomena, thereby helping build the Party and State into truly pure and strong ones and successfully realise the goal of a peaceful, independent, unified, democratic, prosperous, strong, civilised, and happy Vietnam that the General Secretary wished and strived for in his whole life, according to Trac./.

VNA