[Editorial] Before Asking for Favoritism, Prepare Yourself to Lost All and Face Tax Investigation

President-elect Roh Moo-hyun promised that if anyone should try to earn a position through favoritism or bribery, he should be deemed ready to ruin his whole career and family. It is understandable that Mr. Roh used the coarse expression to stress his firm determination. Nonetheless, it sounds a little undiplomatic. Taking his words at face value, it is not the rule of law. Law should be equally applied even to someone who breaks the law. Listening Mr. Roh mention "family," we recall the old days when one person was jointly held liable for the wrongdoing of his/her family member. Mr. Roh even pledged to mobilize the tax administration to punish the person who attempts to buy a position. But tax-related investigations are not appropriate penalties in this respect.

Of course, we understand how seriously corrupt our society is, and that is why Mr. Roh had to employ such strong words. Actually, corruption is rampant and has penetrated into each and every corner of our society. Everything works out with bribery and corruption including prosecution, police investigation, promotion, just to name a few. Kim Dae-jung administration has demonstrated its severity with numerous corruption scandals.

To ensure the equal access to opportunities among citizens, bribery and favoritism should be rooted out of our society. Nonetheless, most "deals" are not easy to detect due to their sneaky nature. Thus, it is harder to punish the people involved. In order to root out the bad practice, we first have to eradicate any possibilities lying in our society. And our efforts to make a new society shall be started with shutdown of all the dark channels by severing all the ties based on personal relationships.

The matter eventually comes down to the henchmen politics and "buddy" promotion system. People tend to mobilize all personal relationships and ties to get close to "big shots" to get higher or to secure a big cut out of the pie. So, hanging around together, big shots are likely to be entrapped by those who have got close in a net of favoritism and compensation. Once drunk in power, one is likely to lose control and snatch up whatever decoy is offered.

Still, inauguration is two months away. Nonetheless, government officials are trying to get close to the new big shots including the members of the Presidential Transition Committee. It`s deplorable. Mr. Roh should see to it that none of his aids gives a position to their henchmen.