The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam expressed its clear determination to combat corruption and wastefulness at its conference held recently in Hanoi. Maybe, there is no assessment of these social evils as comprehensive as the statement made by Party leader Nong Duc Manh that “Corruption and wastefulness remain serious and complicated on a large scale, causing public concern and threatening the existence of the regime.”

To cope with the scourge of social evils, the Party Central Committee worked out a resolution on reinforcing the Party’s leading role in the fight against corruption and wastefulness with which every sector has to devise specific measures to bring it to life.

In fact, corruption and wastefulness are a long-drawn-out common occurrence in every social institution. The damage caused by acts of corruption and wastefulness rises through the ranks of State officials. They often rule the roost where synchronous prevention measures are not intensified along with strong public criticism.

Corruption and wastefulness prevention is a long-term, hard and complicated fight which can not be carried out overnight as it needs effective prevention measures. In the current situation, determination to combat, detect and tackle these social evils in time is also regarded as a prevention measure.

Speaking at the conference, Party leader Nong Duc Manh emphasised that combating corruption and wastefulness requires strict implementation of synchronous measures and solutions embracing ideology, politics, economics, laws, education, lifestyle and morality to perfect legal mechanisms and regulations. Despite the fact that it has a long way to go before building comprehensive measures, mechanisms and regulations to combat the scourge, it is imperative for everybody especially senior officials, to understand the need for proper lifestyle and good morality. This will help prevent them from committing grave mistakes, violations and crimes. It has been a bitter lesson for each State official and Party member to experience a host of scandals in recent times.

If the management of State employees and Party members remains formalistic and is not done in a democratic and transparent way, corruption and wastefulness will come home to roost.

 “To live up to one’s words” is a message not only for high-ranking officials in the State apparatus but also for the entire society. Clear determination is not enough. To make great strides in fighting corruption and wastefulness requires a strong response from the whole community.