Wu Guangqiang

    jw368@163.com

    REN CHANGCHUN, a low-level official in Gujiao City, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, is burning in the spotlight. His overnight fame was not caused by an exceptional performance or his upright image, but by his foul language and despotic style.

    In a video clip, Ren, director of Gujiao City’s passenger traffic office, is seen speaking at a staff meeting. In his speech, he reeled off a string of coarse and preposterous words, such as, “In my organization, nobody shall tell me anything about State provisions, which are nothing but shit,” “I know what law is, but I just don’t believe it” and “Whoever wants a pay raise, get out of here!”

    Ren is said to have always been arrogant and dominating, but such a recklessly tyrannical manner still stunned many.

    Ren’s remarks sparked public fury, and, as a result, he has been expelled from the Party and removed from office. The local authorities are probing into possible other misconduct. Experience shows that such an imperious official is most likely corrupt.

    Ren is only one of numerous local despots across China, particularly in the hinterland. These local bullies are mostly officials at various levels holding lucrative positions in government departments with great powers. Many such officials have amassed wealth through the power-for-money game, regard their positions as the source of endless wealth and will do everything they can to keep their gravy train.

    They are tiny “flies” in comparison with big “tigers,” corrupt senior officials, but their appetite for money is no less than that of the latter. Ma Chaoqun is a typical example.

    The former general manager of a water supply company in Beidaihe in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, was found hoarding 120 million yuan (US$19.61 million) in cash, 37 kilograms of gold and certificates for 68 units of real estate in his home, which, of course, was all illegally gotten wealth.

    Their gold touch is the power in their hands that is supposed to be used to serve the people. They turn it into a racketeering tool instead.

    Taking for example Ren’s position as the director of a city’s passenger traffic office, it is indeed a fat job. To get the green light for a passenger transport license, local bus companies or private bus owners have to bribe officials responsible for the approval of an application with a considerable amount of money, up to tens of thousands of yuan.

    By some accounts, in many places in Shanxi Province, inter-city transport and bus businesses are dominated by a handful of people who have bought off everyone in the power chain, from the director with the final say to clerks who could reject an application form. In places like those, fair competition is nonexistent and management is messy, which, in turn, hinders healthy economic growth.

    Reining in these wayward officials is a tough job. Two well-known Chinese sayings explain why. One is, “The heaven is high and the emperor, far away,” literally meaning that a corrupt or incompetent official in a remote place will go unpunished because of the absence of higher supervision.

    True enough, China is too vast and the Central Government is too far away for the existence of a one-size-fits-all policy to effectively curb official malpractices across the country. However minor a position an official holds, it could breed a jaw-dropping corruption case.

    Wang Tianchao, the former chief of a hospital in Yunnan Province, was recently charged with accepting bribes during his tenure of office between 2004 and 2014. His ill-gotten wealth included 35 million yuan in cash, 100 units of apartments worth 80 million yuan and 100 parking spaces.

    The other saying is, “Officials shield one another.” Officials with the same greed and lust scratch each other’s backs and hide each other’s dirty laundry. Their mutual concealment makes a thorough and effective anti-graft campaign extremely difficult.

    Harsher measures are needed to tackle grass-roots corruption. Wang Qishan, chief of the CPC’s disciplinary body, has vowed to fire responsible officials if they fail to curb the widespread corruption among their lower cadres.

    The removal of venal and bossy officials is the best deterrent to graft.

    (The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.)