The article by Mr. Đinh Hồng Kỳ was published in the “Viewpoint” section of the online newspaper VnExpress.net on January 6, 2019.
“One time, my niece told the whole family, ‘Mom said don’t bring fruits or gifts, just give an envelope to keep it simple.’” I keep wondering: where does the root of corruption in our society come from? Does it start at the top, from corrupt senior leaders, or from a system and environment that easily breeds corruption? Or is part of it rooted in family education? Is focusing only on high-profile cases to “burn the furnace” enough to fight corruption?
Before birth, a child’s parents already have to “bribe” to ensure the baby is born at a decent maternity hospital. When the child turns three and wants to enter a good preschool, there are prices to pay through various “channels” of connections. Once enrolled, parents must regularly bring gifts on every “memorable” occasion. Thus, the “envelope culture” baggage follows children throughout their primary and secondary school years.
Then if a student gets into university but studies poorly or wants better grades, “buying the teacher” has become a custom. After graduation, if they apply to work in government agencies, the cost depends on how “profitable” the job is. The subsequent investment process is very long and without clear standards. Bribing to pass civil service exams, competing for connections, joining the networks of this or that official, trying to become someone’s protégé…
But if you “invest,” you must “get your money back.” How can you recover your investment with the meager salaries in the state payroll? Once promoted to a certain position, the endless process of both continuing to “invest” and “recoup” to survive the race becomes a relentless cycle. In such an environment filled with “investors,” systemic corruption is inevitable.
At a late-2018 conference with some senior government leaders, one confided that the government’s greatest current challenge is not lack of budget but the weakness of the ranks of officials and civil servants in execution. A huge workforce of civil servants mostly lacks capacity and has slowed the country’s operation. It is not easy to reduce the number of civil servants when they have been “invested in” through long-term processes as described above. Nor is it easy to improve quality because much of their knowledge and experience was obtained by “buying teachers” in classrooms or “using connections” during work.
In 1990, I visited Poland during a five-year term. Corruption was rampant everywhere — bribery to officials, extortion by state administrative agencies, open bargaining between enterprises and customs or tax officers to split import tax money. Some shipments were entirely handed off by customs to the owners, so no taxes were collected. On the streets, traffic police “negotiated” directly with violators, putting money in their pockets. Once, while driving with a friend, police stopped us and demanded 50 zloty from him. My friend only had a 200-zloty note, but the officer gladly accepted it and returned change.
But only five years later, when I returned, I met the same man who had been fined by traffic police. He told me that the Polish government and police had taken strong measures against bribery. They slimmed down the system to a minimum and raised salaries to ensure a decent living for officers. Strict penalties were also imposed: anyone caught taking or giving bribes received three years in prison. The corrupt police officer was fired and barred from receiving pensions. The price of petty bribery became too high compared to 50–100 zloty (about 300,000 to 600,000 VND), so hardly any officers or violators dared to risk it. Compared to Vietnam, a few years ago a police major publicly stated that accepting a few dozen or a few hundred thousand dong should not be considered corruption.
One of Poland’s successes in fighting corruption has been the effectiveness of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA). The CBA has vast authority, even powers banned in some EU countries, such as setting corruption traps. While controversial from a democratic perspective, this has proven very effective in combating corruption. The CBA has successfully trapped many officials and sent them to prison with heavy sentences.
The authorities also made anti-corruption education a school subject. Students are taught that giving and receiving bribes is a serious and disgraceful crime. According to the 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, Poland ranked 36th, while Vietnam ranked 107th out of 180 countries.
I don’t think Vietnam lacks ways to prevent corruption. The issue is whether we can overcome “group interests” and “sector interests” to boldly implement strong, widespread measures in socio-economic life.
The year 2018 left a strong impression with the Party and Government’s anti-corruption campaign that eliminated many “worms” in the government apparatus. The campaign could kill both “big worms” and small ones but also forced some worms to retreat and hide, waiting for their chance to re-emerge and suck blood again. Therefore, to eradicate all corruption, an environment must be created where worms cannot survive. That environment is clear, transparent, and democratic mechanisms and policies.
Another way to improve the problem starts within families. We shouldn’t blame all current social evils on the government. If every family unanimously refuses to sow the “envelope culture” or the mentality of “money means everything” into their children’s souls, those children will grow up and build their lives based on their own abilities.
Dinh Hong Ky
