Seven points
Faruk Ahmed, Asian Institute of Technology Thailand
Undoubtedly, the present caretaker government has set several examples of combating corruption in the first six months. I, like the majority of the people in the country, appreciate the cooperation from the army chief to this CTG. All the seven points put forward by him are important, and the seventh point "creating a moral high ground against corruption" is the most important to me for making the campaign sustainable.Reducing corruption to the minimum level requires cooperation from all sectors of society. But awareness should come first from the family where a child grows up and learns from his/her surroundings. Then it's the teachers who can play an extremely important role. Do we learn anything in any level of our education that teaches us to be an ethical person? Lord Wavell is generally considered the best Viceroy and Governor General of India (1941-1947). Not only he had done all his homework before he became the Viceroy but he is also considered one of those British personalities who touched Indian souls and understood them. He wrote a report to the British government on the field of education in India. "We have done the worst in the field of education of India. We have given them the education of letter but not of character," wrote Wavell. So, here is why this subcontinent can't get rid of corruption. How much effort has been given by the governments since 1947 to reform the education system? In 2003, a news item in "The Nation", a daily English newspaper in Thailand, attracted me. It was a list of the top 20 countries which had the best education systems at primary and secondary levels in the world. Among Asian countries, only South Korea and Japan were in the top 20. The other countries were from Europe, North America and Australia. If you compare this list of top 20 with the list of top 20 least corrupt countries (published by Transparency International) side by side, you will observe that education system has the greatest influence on the issue. We have been ranked the most corrupt country for five consecutive years. How could we be still far away from concentrating on this sector? I was listening to an interview of Prof. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal the other day. He pointed out very serious flaws in our education system. Our children can't study without private teacher at home or at the coaching centre. This is far from an ideal situation. Developing Lord Wavell's "education of character" should be the starting point to reduce corruption on a sustainable basis.
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