Daily Lessons from Life 30 June 2009

Today is the end of June 2009! Half a year has flown past me!! Time to take stock and update my 2009 Resolution in the blog!! If you are interested, you can find the updates there. Thanks.

"China's new corruption hotline overloaded More than 11,000 people called in during first week. Tue, Jun 30, 2009 AFP

BEIJING, June 30, 2009 (AFP) - China's new government corruption hotline was overwhelmed in its first week with more than 17,000 tips and an unknown number unable to get through on overloaded lines, state media reported Tuesday.


The Supreme People's Procuratorate hotline is seeking information on crimes, including corruption, bribery, dereliction of duty, unlawful searches, illegal detention and illegally coercing confessions, it said.

The newspaper said only one in five of its calls to the hotline connected, adding the 24-hour web and phone service was staffed by only ten operators. Callers who got through also had the option of leaving voice messages or sending faxes, the report said.

The bandwidth for the hotline's website will soon be doubled after it crashed on the first day, the report said. Currently it can accommodate 1,000 visitors at a time. So far, the toll-free hotline is accessible from 22 of China's 31 provinces, the newspaper said.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate prosecuted 33,953 civil servants last year after
investigating 41,179 government employees, the report said.


Chinese President Hu Jintao has repeatedly warned that corruption within the ruling Communist Party is the greatest threat to its legitimacy. China experiences tens of thousands of riots - officially termed "mass incidents" - each year, many due to grievances over injustices committed by the police, government officials and others in positions of power."

You must be prepared for what you asked! This is definitely an encouraging step to avail to the people who were genuinely aggrieved to speak up and help nip the buds of corruption at the ground level. It is a way to demonstrate the determination and sincerity of the authority to stamp out abuses and corruption by the people in power!

Lessons for me are:

1. it is better that you provide the channel for communication to flush out the abusers and people in authority who succumbed to corrupt way than to have them matching in the streets and preparing to lay down their lives for justice! By the time to anger and frustration hits the streets and the protesters so desperate that they are willing to die for it, the power unleashed might be so powerful and destructive that the leaders cannot guide and control it!;

2. there will be poison pens and false accusations too when people complained. There will be rules and evidence required before the feedback is taken seriously. So, the whistler blowers have to do their home work and this is an avenue who only the most serious and determined victims will seek out. Hence, it is relative safe to say that most of the complaints will have some basis of truth in them!;

3. let the corrupted and the 'may-be-I-can-try-my-luck' groups be put on notice. That the people will not suffer in silence. That the people will exercise their rights to fair treatment and equitable treatment by officials who are supposed to create a better future for them to task whenever the same officials abused their power. Of course, for those who started with the ETHICS of the 7e Way of Leaders and continue to be watchful and mindful of staying off the traps of complacency and growing a sense of entitlement, they need not fear anything!!

May this campaign continue for as long as there are corrupt officials and people who abused their powers and let themselves and the people down! There are no mercy for such abusers!! Let there be no hiding place for such culprits!!