There is an extremely important or perhaps the most important weapon in the fight against corruption, that is culture.

Going hand in hand with the fight against corruption is the work of cultural revival.

The fight against corruption led by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is the biggest fight against corruption in the history of Vietnam, in all three aspects: system, people and assets.

Hundreds of trials have been conducted for the right person and the right crime. However, the impact of corruption still linger and threaten to continue to break people's trust in institutions, destroy the moral foundation of society and hinder the country's development. By being aware of that, we can see the important and urgent meaning of the fight against corruption.

The fight against corruption is not only about preventing the State and people's assets from being stolen to put into the pockets of some powerful individuals, not only about cleaning up the political system, not only about partially restore the people's trust in the institutions but also protect the dignity of a nation.

For the anti-corruption work to be successful, both legally and spiritually, the determination, steadfastness and unflinching of the entire political system headed by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is the only key for succeed in this exceptionally difficult struggle.

The enemies of the nation in the two resistance wars for independence, freedom and national unification were very clear. Under the leadership of the Party and the will of the People, we have overcome and won. However, in days of peace and in the period of the country's development, our enemies are extremely complex, cunning, not easy to identify and at times very ambiguous. Unlike our enemies in war, the nation's enemies in peacetime are by our side, laughing with us, dining with us and sometimes being in the same political units with us.

Culture helps all people create the conscience of a person and a nation. When there is conscience, it means that a person has the best qualities within themselves. These are self-esteem, love for fellow human beings, sharing, dedication and the "WAY" of being human.

The truth has proven horrifyingly that we cannot deny that there are high-ranking officials in the political system who have fallen because of the money.

The above-mentioned cadres who fell for money were people who had been educated, thoroughly trained, and had proven their abilities at some stage. But at a certain point, they no longer had the will to continue and they fell because of money. They cannot complete the path they choose. Material things have won over their conscience.

If following the news, we see that going hand in hand with the fight against corruption is the work of cultural revival, the important highlight of which is the National Cultural Conference chaired by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in November 2021.

At this Conference, the General Secretary reiterated President Ho Chi Minh's conclusion when talking about culture: "Culture lights the nation’s path" and affirmed: "As long as culture exists, the nation still exists." The Party's fight against corruption has been promptly preventing the deterioration of a number of powerful party officials. However, there is an extremely important or perhaps the most important weapon in the fight against corruption, that is culture.

Culture helps to create the conscience in people and nations. When people have conscience, they carry within themselves the best qualities. These are self-esteem, love for fellow human beings, sharing, dedication and the "WAY" of being human.

Culture makes each individual always have the ability to question his or her own behavior with family and community. Culture makes each individual understand what happiness is, and culture makes people feel ashamed about his vile desires. When people know how to question themselves, understand the meaning of happiness, know shame and regret, they know how to decide their behavior. From then on, selfishness, greed, and personal lust are blocked by conscience.

30 years ago, in a conversation with parents of a high school about life orientation for adolescents, a parent suggested on writing a handbook about the pitfalls in life so their children can foresee and overcome them. I said to that parent, even there was a handbook with foreseen 1,000 pitfalls, their kids can still fall into the trap no 1,001st. What is more important is to teach them about the beauty in life and sow the seed of beauty in the hearts of children. Once the tree called the Beauty grows and flourishes in a person's soul, that person will deeply understand beauty.

The Party's fight against corruption has been promptly preventing the deterioration of a number of powerful party officials. However, there is an extremely important or perhaps the most important weapon in the fight against corruption, that is culture.

Once they have understood about the beauty, they are able to distinguish what is BEAUTIFUL and what is UGLY. And that is how they overcome all the pitfalls in life. When knowing about the amount of money that some corrupt criminals get from the assets of the State and the People, many people had to exclaim: "Why do they need that much of money?"

A corrupt criminal does not need such a large amount of money for himself/herself and his/her family. However, the need of their greed and unscrupulousness did not allow them to stop. If they are capable of tormenting their conscience, if they are capable of asking themselves where their wealth comes from, if they are capable of being ashamed of their stealing, they will stop. Those “abilities” can only arise from culture.

Therefore, culture is the torch that lights the way for a person and a nation to find their way in the darkness of the soul and walk towards the light.

The legal system and anti-corruption agencies are the last line in the fight against corruption. However, the first and most important line is culture. A person, a community which has culture (beauty) within himself/itself will overcome the darkness of greed.

The most important and effective "weapon" against Evil is conscience, and all other "tools" are secondary. Therefore, we are more deeply aware of the specific, direct struggle against corruption and the revitalization of national culture. That is the great thought of a country.

(Source: WVR)