Temptations and misdeeds!

I will post s few events in the past to warn those younger people who aspire high offices that the world is no longer like in the past. These few events should serve as constant warning to them to tread very carefully. There is a Eastern Proverb that ” One mis-step may lead to a thousand year’s regret”.  It is indeed true.

These events were:

1. on 21 May 1998 Suharto announced his resignation from the presidency. His recently appointed Vice President Habibie assumed the presidency in accordance with the constitution.

In May 2000, he was placed under house arrest and official investigation into alleged corruption was started.

In 2002, his son, Tommy, was sentenced to 15 years in Jail.

2. Former Presidents Chun Doo hwan and Roh Tae-woo of south Korea.

Both were convicted in August 1996 of treason, mutiny and corruption; Chun was sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment, while Roh’s 22½-year jail sentence was reduced to 17 years on appeal. Both were released from prison in December 1997, pardoned by then-President Kim Young-sam. (wikipedia)

3. Former President Chen Shui Bian of Taiwan.

On September 11, 2009, Chen received a life sentence and was fined NT$200 million (US$6.13 million) for embezzlement, bribery and money laundering involving a total of US$15 million (NT$490 million) in funds while in office from 2000 to 2008. On 11 June 2010, the High Court decided to reduce the former president Chen’s life sentence to 20 years (wiki).

4. Husni Mubarak was overthrown this year. He is now being investigated for corruption and abuse of power, as well as premedidated murder of protestors.

These are just a few of shocking news for the power that be– including those who are top leaders or just ministers– to digest.

When they are elected to hold high office, it was already an honour extraordinary. Why should anyone who has been elected and tasked with the power to rule commit corruption and abuse of power?

Once anyone mis-steps and takes a bribe or committed a misdeed against the law (succumb to temptation, so to speak), he will need to abuse his power to cover up this mis-deed. Just like using one lie to cover another, he will abuse power to cover one misdeed with another. Very soon, a misdeed is no longer a misdeed in his eyes since he is so used to doing it. Those around him would have follow his pattern, since once the upper beam is crooked, the house can no longer be build properly, so to speak.

It is precisely these misdeeds that those who have committed them feel that they cannot let go, unless they pass the power to someone who can be trusted, or better still someone who have also committed misdeed. That way, boats would not be rocked and the captain can be trusted keep the sails in the same direction.

This is also precisely why many people with conscience or high ideals go into politics and become abusers of power later. Because politics is like a jar of soya sauce;  any white cloth that goes into it would become black, unless you wrap a plastic  sheet around the white cloth first to ensure the ideals would not  be corrupted!