9/23/2013

Bo Xilai, the man who could be President

Seeing this man in handcuffs is creepy. He was the forerunner to be the President of China. He was charismatic and had a string of records in public administration, taking on tough appointments and the triads in his last appointment. A bright rising star eclipsed at the peak of his power.
 

China has just brought down one of the most power man in the Communist Party, stripped off his post and sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption and abused of power. His wife is serving a suspended death sentence for the murder of a British, Neil Heywood, whom they trusted and entrusted with the well being of their son and their overseas investments. This story is a repeated of the colonial days when the decadent rich sucked up to the foreigners to guard their ill gotten wealth and eventually got ripped off by them. History is repeating with the pathetic Chinese rich not learning the lessons of the past.
 

This is perhaps the biggest story of modern China, to take down one of their close comrades at such a high level, put him on trial and ended with a life sentence. The evidence was so overwhelming that justice was served in accordance with the rule of law and the rumour of a revolt by the supporters of Bo fizzled out quietly.
 

There were fears of a coup of sort or instability. They were fears that justice would not be served. The trials of Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai were a showcase of modern Chinese legal system and transparency. It was also a statement that corruption would be dealt with even at the highest place of power. This is not seen in many countries, including Asean.
 

The verdict on Bo Xilai is a signal the Xi Jinping leadership is sending to the Chinese bureaucracy that corruption and abuse of power will not be tolerated. Would this lead to more heads being rolled? Given the prevalence of corruption at high places, this is only the beginning, an unnecessary evil that has to be done and seen to be done to keep China on an even keel and prevent it from collapsing prematurely.
 

Xi Jinping needs to run a tight ship to keep the Chinese govt in a healthy state for the future. Allowing corruption to sink roots and corrupt officials to run the country would see the growth of China going down quickly as predicted by many doomsayers in the West. The taking down of Bo Xilai is a gingerly step forward and more needs to be done to prevent China going back to its decadent past.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good lah, Xi Jinping punished those high level corrupt officials.

PAP govt also punish corrupt officials what. So also good lah, because this will keep the PAP govt in a healthy state for the future. So no need strong opposition to check and balance lah.

Anonymous said...

Not surprisingly, Singapore had ridded off some top civil servants before China does. And many of the convicted corrupted members were given all kinds of honours, some of which were awarded very recent to their convictions.
Singapore had done cleansing long before China. Late National Development Minister Teh Cheang Wan was proof.
Luckily after Teh, no more dirt in the Cabinet anymore.

Anonymous said...

Sinkie ministers are very well paid, in fact the highest paid in the world!

So there is less motivation to be corrupt. Less only, not no, hor.

And good pay will also have a better chance to attract high calibre, or rather best available calibre, Sinkies to join the govt.

I say better chance only, not guarantee hor. Best available does not mean best hor.

Anonymous said...

......it is very difficult to define corruption....

......if not careful, you can be sued for slander and defamation....

patriot said...

How can One with potential to run a big nation buys oversea property for residence?
Where the hell is his loyalty to his motherland that he runs?
Bo Xilai is lucky not to be sent to the firing squad. Some others were not as lucky as Bo.

patriot

Anonymous said...

Corruption can be defined in many ways. Taking pencils and papers from the office or small little stuff for own used can also be claimed as corruption. Needs not be the big or million dollar stuff.

JayF said...

A few things you might wish to correct in your post.

Bo was never officially in the running for the role of Chairman of the Party and the head of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, making him in line for President. After a stint as Party Sec in Shandong, where he first made himself famous and where he got that police chief who ended up fleeing to the Americans, he thought he was going to get a coveted position in the Politburo, though not the apex Standing Committee. Instead, he was booted off as Party Sec to Chongching. Not a bad posting per se and frankly very lucrative. A man of lesser ambition would be satisfied with the gravy train. Not Bo, who lobbied for Chongching to be classified as it's own province and split from Chengdu and Sichuan but worse was his attempts to cultivate his own support base of neo Leftist (successful) and patronage of Politburo members like Zhou Yongkang (purged). He had some personal meetings with Army District heads, something which set off alarm bells in Beijing. The last time someone did something similar was Mao when his own party removed him from effective power and he started the Cultural Revolution instead.

Anonymous said...

That Police Chief Wang Lijun from Shandong?

Anonymous said...

Bo's case has illustrated one point: whoever is in power, he is in control. This principle applies to all nations, including Singapore!

oldhorse42 said...

It was his wife Gu Kailai that did him in.

Imagined her two-timing him with Neil Heywood and Police Chief Wang Lijun and also testified against him in court.

Read like another chapter from Hong Lou Mong(Dream of Red Chamber) - a Chinese classic.

Anonymous said...

Seems like Bo Xilai is more than just corrupt.

Or maybe even unlucky, due to the type of people closest to him.

Maybe he should have got a better wife.

Anonymous said...

PAP is lucky that voters made WP under Low TK, and not SDP under Dr Chee, the strongest opposition.

So sometimes smart or stupid doesn't matter, also depends on luck.

Anonymous said...

Did Aung Sun Suu Kyi just say that Grenerals should not be in parliament?

How many Generals do we have in the Singapore parliament?
How many Generals do we have in the Government linked companies?

Anonymous said...

Paper Generals can.

In Myanmar, the generals are not paper generals, so cannot or should not lah.

Anonymous said...

Is the old fart dead yet?
I want to start celebrating already!
Yam Seng!

Anonymous said...

The Couples' Son Bo Gua Gua must have beneficted much from the wrongdoings of his Parents.

b said...

Corruption is everywhere. More power means more corruption. Some get caught and some do not. Some even can win votes. We live in a world full of bullshits.

Anonymous said...

China wasted so much talent. They should just follow Singapore and pay minister millions.

Follow GCT, ask for 1 plate of fried kway teow from every citizen. They won't have to be corrupt.

Anonymous said...

We not only have Paper Generals in Singapore's Parliament;
We have Paper Prime Minister and Paper Ministers.

Which is worse you tell me lah?
Paper General or Paper Prime Minister?
Which one cause more damage to Singaporeans?

Anonymous said...

Isn't corruption a norm there, so i wonder who gets away and how many when one gets caught, china stop at one policy crumbled just like our stop at two, come to think of it, we sort of copied theirs, so much for big ideas....

Why are there exception even when the stop at one has murdered so many unborns, could money be the devil making such correction as a PR who got his citizenship once said, his father was the mayor and so after he was born, he could still have a sister.....hmmm, did anyone sort of know when LHL did his national service he had body guards with him.....do let me know.....would be interesting as he was groom to be somebody even then, i wonder if any norm would have that path mark out.

I also remember someone saying my son would not be the PM, i must have remembered Wrongly, how could such words be uttered as he is now the PM, anyone knows how much property our big guns have..........no, i'm just uttering total nonsense, who cares anyway.

I'm looking at the group SISTARS a korean group of four, man, they have really worked hard to have what they have......well, guess some are born lucky, condo at special prices, etc....some who can sing and dance like that, whoaaaa, back to work, back to the real world.

patriot said...

Corruption is indeed a norm ONLY HUMAN IS CAPABLE OF. No other species is endowed with this feature.
ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY, meaning the more powerful ones corrupt more intensely.

patriot