Do not let your wife, children, and relatives get involved in public affairs, harming the law of the country.

Illustration photo / tuyengiao.vn

“If you cannot teach your wife and children, who can you talk to and educate?” is a very frank and strict statement, and at the same time, it is also the concern and torment of the leader of our Party about a part of today's officials who let their wives, children, family members, and relatives do indecent things, causing public outrage.

The terrifying "soft power" of "ladies"...

In every human being, there is a part of the flesh and blood of the parents and contains sacred and deep feelings for the family, husband, wife and children. A person with good morality and personality must first of all be someone who respects grandparents and parents; loves children; is loyal and affectionate to his wife/husband; and behaves harmoniously with siblings. A cadre or party member with good qualities must first of all be filial and kind to family members. If there is warmth inside, then there will be peace outside. Only by behaving and resolving relationships in the family well can cadres and party members properly resolve social relationships.

However, for each cadre and party member, it is necessary to have a correct perception and a clear distinction between fulfilling the duties of a husband (a father, a son, a brother/sister in the family) and shouldering the common responsibilities and obligations of the organization, agency, unit, and more broadly, serving the people and the country. If cadres and party members still mix public and private affairs, let private affairs dominate public affairs, let family and clan relationships interfere with social relationships (organizations, agencies, units), then that is the seed of disruption of organizational culture, deviation of public ethics, and more dangerously, the cause of degradation of moral qualities and lifestyle. This has been pointed out in Resolution 4 of the 12th Central Committee: "Letting relatives and acquaintances take advantage of their positions and powers for personal gain".

Since ancient times, people have been whispering about the shadows of "ladies" behind "men" to refer to wives who "hide behind" their husbands' authority, taking advantage of their husbands' positions and titles to commit shady, shady acts, even violating the law. Here and there, people still whisper to each other that, to achieve a high position, a "good place", a "money-making" position, one must not only go through the back door to "bribe" the "men" but also carry out "psychological attack tactics" by approaching "ladies" with sweet words and ceremonies to please the "ladies". It is also not by chance that public opinion calls the wives of a group of officials by names such as "lady secretary", "lady director"... to refer to the "soft power" of these elements that can manipulate and overwhelm their husbands' power in an excessive way, in the style of "the husband's orders are not as good as the wife's gong". Even many wives behind officials can shake up the officialdom, interfere in political affairs, "give the green light" to those who seek positions, power, and positions... making many people feel discouraged.

The proverb says “Behind every successful man is a woman” with the meaning of praising the hard work, dedication and silent sacrifices of the wife who has contributed to her husband’s career. However, reality also shows that behind the failure and disgrace in politics of some officials today, part of the reason is that their wives and children are involved in shady business dealings and violations of the law. The underlying cause is partly due to the mentality of being overly “dependent on love and respecting their wives”, and partly due to the instinct of “a banana fish infatuated with its children”, some officials let their wives and children take advantage of their positions and powers to manipulate and profit from others while remaining indifferent. Worse, some officials show signs of complicity, knowing that their wives, children, family members and relatives have done wrong and committed negative acts but do not stop them promptly and strictly. One small mistake can lead to another. If small mistakes by wives, children, family members, and relatives of officials are not warned and stopped from the beginning, they can accumulate into "termite piles" that can destroy and ruin their own careers.

In recent years, many officials have been disciplined, dismissed, and even criminally prosecuted for many reasons, including not paying attention to educating, managing, and advising their wives, children, family members, and relatives, allowing them to act recklessly and wrongly. "If you cannot teach your wife and children, who can you talk to or educate?" is a very frank and strict statement, and at the same time, it is also the concern and torment of the head of our Party about a group of officials who let their wives, children, family members, and relatives do indecent things, causing public outrage.

If he was truly an honest official, a model of "serving the public and following the law", how could there be such scandalous events in public opinion as: Son was supported and promoted at lightning speed; daughter's score in the national high school exam was raised; wife took over "golden land" worth tens of billions of dong; younger brother arbitrarily bought cheap public land to build a magnificent villa in a prime location; brother-in-law colluded with "virtual businessmen" to do business, causing hundreds of billions of dong in budget losses...

One of the recent major cases is the Viet A case. According to information from Lieutenant General To An Xo, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security, in the Viet A case, Phan Quoc Viet confessed to earning a profit of 4,000 billion VND, "greasing" about 800 billion VND. The defendants at Viet A Company used many methods to transfer money to leaders of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in several provinces and cities, including transferring through the owner's account and through accounts of relatives (such as the recipient's wife, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law) and also giving money directly in cash. Not only the Viet A case, many recent "huge" corruption and bribery cases have exposed the bribe giver not only "bribing" the "boss" but also transferring money into the "boss's" account worth billions of VND...

Strict with yourself and your family, don't mix public and private matters.

In fact, our Party has issued many regulations requiring cadres and party members, especially leaders and leaders at all levels, not only to set an example in political responsibility, maintain moral qualities and lifestyle, but also to be exemplary and take the lead in mobilizing and educating their wives, children, family members and relatives to voluntarily comply with the Party's guidelines and policies and the State's laws and policies.

Article 3, Regulation No. 08-QDi/TW dated October 25, 2018 of the Party Central Committee on “Responsibility to set an example for cadres and party members, first of all Politburo members, Secretariat members, and Central Committee members” stipulates: “Must be strict with oneself...; do not let one's wife (husband), father, mother, children, or siblings take advantage of one's position, authority, or prestige for personal gain. Do not let one's wife (husband), biological children, or adopted children live in luxury, show off, waste, or fall into social evils, or violate the law.”

Regulation No. 37-QD/TW dated October 25, 2021 of the Party Central Committee "On things that Party members are not allowed to do" also clearly states: "Not to interfere with, influence or allow one's wife (husband), children, parents, brothers, sisters, spouse's side and others to take advantage of one's position and work position for personal gain" (Article 11) and: "Not to interfere with, influence or allow one's wife (husband), children, parents, brothers, sisters, spouse's side, oneself and others to travel, study or receive medical treatment with funding from organizations and individuals related to the industry and field of monitoring and management" (Article 17).

However, no matter how complete and strict the regulations are, if cadres and party members do not voluntarily and strictly comply with them, it will be difficult to achieve the desired results. For cadres and party members, especially those holding leadership and management positions at all levels, it is necessary to deeply imbibe the motto and principles of governance passed down from the ancients, which are "cultivating oneself, regulating one's family, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world". One must first of all consciously cultivate one's mind and character, cultivate one's virtues, self-reflect, self-correct, self-cultivate, and train oneself to become a decent person; along with that, one must educate and teach one's children properly, rectify family traditions, and consolidate family and clan traditions to be steadfast and perfect, only then can one hope to do well the greater task of governing society and mobilizing, educating, and convincing people to trust and follow one's lead. When one does not cultivate oneself well and manages one's family well, how can one have enough strength, talent, and ability to shoulder the mission of "governing the country and bringing peace to the world"?

It is known that people can be influenced by family emotions, easily let the familiar emotions of parents, spouses, siblings, children "infiltrate" and can even overwhelm their will and reason in certain situations and circumstances. However, when "eating state food, serving public affairs, serving the people", cadres and party members need to be alert, clear-headed, and know how to distinguish between public and private matters, and not let public and private matters mix.

“I keep my love for you in my heart/ I do my official duties as I please” (folk song). The way to be an official is to “serve the public, follow the law, be impartial and selfless, and put public duties first” in order to be able to lead society and control others. We must take to heart the saying “The country has its own laws, the family has its own rules”, “the law is impartial”, and do not let ourselves fall into a situation where “the muddy river begins with the muddy river”. When a husband is not upright, when a father is not of good character, not only is he not capable of “managing the family” properly, but it is even more difficult to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of a cadre and party member towards the Fatherland and the people.

THIEN VAN