Honour and shame

I was saddened by the death of the former South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, two days ago, when he jumped from a hill near his home after leaving a suicide note.

It is from this hill that Mr Roh jumped

This was reported in NYTimes:

For both his supporters and detractors, his suicide served as a painful reminder of how difficult it remained to break the chain of graft in South Korean society……………………

Roh killed himself a day before his wife, Kwon Yang-sook, was expected to be summoned for questioning for a second time.

“He was driven to kill himself for taking some money from a long-time supporter, while those who robbed big businesses of truckloads of cash are still alive without shame,” said Choi Chul-kyu, a 48-year-old mourner holding a candle, referring to former conservative political leaders convicted of bribery.

“How am I going to explain this to my children? How am I going to explain the fact that every president in this country has wanted to squash his predecessor?”

But those who were close to Roh said the charges were especially painful because he had made his name as a “clean” politician, refusing to follow in the path of his predecessors; every former South Korean president since the 1980s has faced corruption accusations or gone to prison on such charges after his term was over.

In recent weeks, Roh acknowledged that a little-known businessman who supported him had given more than US$6 million (RM20.94 million) to his wife and son and his brother’s son-in-law while he was in office, but he denied the payments were bribes. He said that he did not know about the transactions until he left office and that the money for his wife went to pay a debt.

 SOuth Korea has a tradition of graft , as in many Confucianist societies, since in these societies, bribes and ‘gifts’ are sometimes difficult to differentiate and many politicians have taken  advantage of this to be on the take. Many more are made of lesser moral stuff and become corrupted by the power given to them.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely – this is indeed very true.

The late Roh was acknowledged as one of the cleanest of SOuth Korean presidents. But after watching politics from the fringe, I am rather sceptical of the word ‘clean’. Too many ‘clean ‘ leaders have been seen to be on the take. And it really does not matter whether a person takes one dollar or one billion; to be on the take for small amount is as serious as those taking bigger sums.

Nevertheless, in this case,  I do not  know the circumstances of the US 6 millions allegedly given to him, and whether this was ‘contribution’ allowed under the law or ‘gifts’ that can easily be interpreted as corruption.. Since i do not know the background of the money, I would not want to comment on the allegation of corruption against him.

But one thing is for sure. He is the one who has the highest honour among all the past leaders of SOuth Korea who were investigated for corruption.

In death, he has set an example of someone who was unable to face his name being blemished by corruption charges.  To take one’s own life for one’s action or inaction speaks much of his personality , and I respect him for that. He had at least one of the basic value of a human; that of being able to feel shameful…

The recognition of “shame’ is also one of Confucianist culture. Such recognition of shame can be due to actual mistake one made , or even to a perceived mistake, even when the perceived mistake was not a mistake.

Remember those  Japanese committing HaraKiri to protect one’s honour and name, sometimes over just a matter of principle?

Roh’s death will not be in vain, whether he was guilty or not. It will have an impact.

Any future South Korean leader wishing to take any gifts or money would probably think twice . IT would serve as a powerful deterrent in a country already changing towards better transparency and accountability .

I am quite confident, that South Korea will follow the footsteps of Hong Kong and Singapore to become a very clean society, given the many examples of past presidents being investigated and jailed.

Looking back at our country, we cannot say the same about some of our leaders. Many of those who are openly corrupt are so proud of their act that not only they do not resign, they aspire to go higher.

Some who have been found guilty inside their own party of corrupt practices can still hold on to high positions, in government as well as party hierarchy.

Not only there is no honour, there is no more feeling of shame.

To these people, even corruption can be glorious.  With this type of culture, how are we going to achieve a clean, transparent and accountable society?