Daily Lesson from Life 03 August 2008

"South Korea probes bank accounts of first lady's cousin
Probe was part of investigation into multi-million-dollar fraud case. -Sun, Aug 03, 2008 AFP

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - SOUTH Korean prosecutors are checking bank accounts held by a cousin of the first lady as a part of their investigation into a multi-million-dollar fraud case, the Yonhap news agency said on Sunday.

Ms Kim Ok Hee, a 74-year-old cousin of Ms Kim Yoon Ok, was arrested last Friday on allegations she took three billion won (S$4 million) in bribes from the head of a trade association, the report said. She is accused of promising to lobby for the man, who wanted to be a ruling party candidate in April's general election.

'The probe focuses on tracing financial transactions through the bank accounts to check if the money flowed elsewhere,' an unnamed prosecution source told Yonhap.

Money was withdrawn from the accounts in tens of million won a time, the official said. Prosecutors suspect Ms Kim Ok Hee may have tried to bribe ruling party officials, although the man's attempt to secure a candidacy failed and most of the money was returned."

If I remembered correctly, one of the eminent personalities of Asia, MM Lee, once remarked that Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore were economically successful because all of them has the Confucianism as anchor of their society.

I also remembered how corrupt the politicians and the businessmen and women were. Even up to now, we still continuously learn about corrupt politicians and business people colluded with each other to 'scratch each other's backs'!

I am sure that many young politicians and business people want to do the right things. It is a tough challenge to change but change we must. As long as we can identify young politicians who want to the do the right things, we have hope. We may have to twist the process a little and wait a little longer but if we are focused on the vision of a clear government and business, we can get there.

The lessons for me are:

1. if you want to be a leader, especially a national leader, it must not be for fame and glory but for the good of the people you are serving. You will not satisfy everyone but you must satisfy the majority and not just the minority!;

2. in an environment that is fair corrupt, you will need to stay focus and have the courage to change. Of course, we must not get 'killed' before we exert our influence to change for the better. So, in the meantime, we may have to twitch the approach and slow down the pace to 'go along' so that we can get others to our way!;

3. for a nation to prosper properly and in a sustainable manner, the national leaders must be clean and cleared on their mission in life. It is not just the pay that motivate you to do good. It must be the belief and the value system you embraced that spurred you to do what you do. Serving the people and making most of their lives better is the ultimate goal!

May we get rid of the 'corrupt practices' of politicians dishing out favours for 'ill-gotten gains'!!