<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Case of Taiwan's Chen shows ensuring a clean govt isn't easy
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with sadness about the conviction of former Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian and his family members for corruption and money laundering ("Chen's key legacy suffers a blow") last Saturday.
The court verdict summed up the case: "He (Chen) should have been noble, but he served himself."
It is a painful reminder of the saying: Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
=> Should not the lesson learnt be exposing corruption requires free press?
There have been many national heroes who rose to power on the back of reforms, who carried the aspirations of an entire nation. Yet often, when leaders settle into positions of great power, they fall prey to temptations to financially better themselves and those belonging to their inner circles. In the process, they destroy the legacies they have worked so hard to leave behind.
I am glad that our founding fathers have largely been selfless and worked to institutionalise a clean government. But we have to accept that conditions that drove our founding fathers against all adversities into public office do not exist today. Hence, it is better to do our best to enshrine a culture of clean government and reasonable compensation to prevent corruption.
Yee Jenn Jong
http://www.youthleadersummit.org/speaker_yee.html
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</TD><TD>MR. YEE JENN JONG
Founder, Chief Executive Officer
AskNLearn Group Pte. Ltd.
Email: [email protected]
<HR align=justify color=#cccccc SIZE=1>Mr Yee Jenn Jong is founder and CEO of ASKnLearn, a top Singapore-based e-learning company. He took ASKnLearn from a 4-man start-up in 2000 to one with over 150 employees servicing over 300,000 learners across Asia. In 2007, ASKnLearn was merged with Educomp Solution Inc., India’s largest provider of technology-enabled learning.
Prior to starting ASKnLearn, Mr Yee was Group General Manager of the Kinderworld group of companies, Senior Information Systems Officer at the then-Trade Development Board of Singapore and teaching staff at the School of Computing at the National University of Singapore.
Mr Yee is married with three children. He holds a Master in Computer Science and MBA. He has co-published a book on parallel computing and has published his computing research in various international journals and conferences. He has a keen interest in start-ups and has mentored several start-ups. Mr Yee has also lectured and tutored entrepreneurship in various polytechnics and schools in Singapore.
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with sadness about the conviction of former Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian and his family members for corruption and money laundering ("Chen's key legacy suffers a blow") last Saturday.
The court verdict summed up the case: "He (Chen) should have been noble, but he served himself."
It is a painful reminder of the saying: Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
=> Should not the lesson learnt be exposing corruption requires free press?
There have been many national heroes who rose to power on the back of reforms, who carried the aspirations of an entire nation. Yet often, when leaders settle into positions of great power, they fall prey to temptations to financially better themselves and those belonging to their inner circles. In the process, they destroy the legacies they have worked so hard to leave behind.
I am glad that our founding fathers have largely been selfless and worked to institutionalise a clean government. But we have to accept that conditions that drove our founding fathers against all adversities into public office do not exist today. Hence, it is better to do our best to enshrine a culture of clean government and reasonable compensation to prevent corruption.
Yee Jenn Jong
http://www.youthleadersummit.org/speaker_yee.html
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=4 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>
</TD><TD>MR. YEE JENN JONG
Founder, Chief Executive Officer
AskNLearn Group Pte. Ltd.
Email: [email protected]
<HR align=justify color=#cccccc SIZE=1>Mr Yee Jenn Jong is founder and CEO of ASKnLearn, a top Singapore-based e-learning company. He took ASKnLearn from a 4-man start-up in 2000 to one with over 150 employees servicing over 300,000 learners across Asia. In 2007, ASKnLearn was merged with Educomp Solution Inc., India’s largest provider of technology-enabled learning.
Prior to starting ASKnLearn, Mr Yee was Group General Manager of the Kinderworld group of companies, Senior Information Systems Officer at the then-Trade Development Board of Singapore and teaching staff at the School of Computing at the National University of Singapore.
Mr Yee is married with three children. He holds a Master in Computer Science and MBA. He has co-published a book on parallel computing and has published his computing research in various international journals and conferences. He has a keen interest in start-ups and has mentored several start-ups. Mr Yee has also lectured and tutored entrepreneurship in various polytechnics and schools in Singapore.
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