THE death sentence imposed on former South Korean dictator Chun Doo Hwan for his role in a coup and massacre, and jail terms for a former president and a battry of corporate chiefs, have made many Indians living in South-east Asia impatient for a similar large-scale clean-up of Indian politics. If a three-year-old democracy like South Korea can do it, why can't we, Indian expatriates are asking.
Former South Korean army general-turned-president Chun was sentenced to death in August for masterminding a 1979 coup and an episode that came to be known as the 'Kwangju massacre'. His successor, former president Roh Tae Woo, also an army general, was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for mutiny, treason and corruption.
Other casualties of the transition to people's rule: 18 former presidential aides and businessmen, including nine South Korean tycoons, who were found guilty of bribing former president Roh. Among them were Choi Won Suk of the Dong-Ah Group, Kim Woo Choong, chairman of Daewoo, Chang Jin ho of the Jinro Group, and Chung Tae Soo of the Hanbo group. Five others, including Lee Kun Hee of the Samsung Group, were given suspended sentences for their 'role in the mutiny'. But observers feel that despite the death sentence handed out to Chun, he is unlikely to be executed, since the condemned are traditionally spared by presidential decree.
It is unlikely the current process of cleansing Korean political life will root out the evil of corruption entirely, for its tentacles run deep. But the Koreans have demonstrated they will not suffer corrupt politicians any longer.
What ultimately led to the downfall of the high and mighty, and the hugely corrupt, was widespread anger against the former dictator and the country's infamous nexus between politicians and major business houses. The South Korean press and an independent judiciary played no less a role in cleansing the country's politics. In doing so, the South Koreans were taking a cue from neigh bouring Japan, where corruption-tainted politicians have fallen like ninepins in recent years.
Many academics and businessmen of Indian origin in South-east Asia believe the time has come for India to treat its corrupt politicians with similar ruthlessness.
"What is happening in South Korea and Japan is seen as a much wanted exercise in straightening the rules of the game. Given the current scenario in India, where corruption scams are tumbling out of the cupboard daily, if this were to replicate itself in India, it would certainly auger well for the business communities outside who are eager to do business with more transparency and a less stressful system," said an Indian businessman, who requested anonymity. He added that at present there were a great many "reservations about doing business in India because things are not as transparent as they should be".
Also convinced of the need for India to engage in its own operation clean-up is Mukul Asher, economics professor at the National University of Singapore. "South Korea is demonstrating that it is moving away from personalised rule to institutionalised rule of law. That's the signal from this trial. That they are moving towards a more democratic rule of law. In India, the issue is whether those appre hended will be brought to trial, and their cases followed through," he said. While India's free press had exposed the corrupt, there had not been enough of a deterrent through punishment, felt
Asher. "People must feel that those who are seen to have misused power are punished. That perception is very important because only then can the bureaucrats function properly," he added.
This situation is in contrast to South Korea, where the successful prosecution and sentencing of Chun, Roh and their businessmen cronies followed just three years after the nation had made the transition from dictatorship to democracy in 1993.
Indian businessmen here wonder how much longer it will take India to weed out corrupt leaders who routinely scalp the taxpayer and subvert the democratic process. Clearly, South Korea has come a long way in a short time and on a shorter fuse.
It would have been unthinkable just three years ago that men as powerful as Chun and Roh could even be questioned, let alone sentenced. A brutal dictator, Chun had suppressed pro-democracy protests in the southern city of Kwangju in 1980 in which 200 people died and more than 1,000 were injured.
For thousands of South Koreans, his sentencing was an affirmation that the new democracy was not just a democracy in name. It actually worked when they saw images on their television screens of a dour-faced Chun rising to hear his death sentence.
Chun had been enjoying a retired life in Seoul when prosecutors arrested him last year for questioning in connection with the Kwangju massacre and suspicions over his undisclosed wealth. There were also fears that loyalists were plotting a political return. But it was the end for the general who commanded the Korean White Horse Division in Vietnam in the 1970s.
Chun's successor, Roh, who came to power in 1987 in the country's first democratic election in 16 years, saw the writing on the wall, and, in deference to popular will, projected himself as a protector of democracy, constantly promising to wipe out corruption till his tenure ended in 1993. By then, Roh had chalked up other achievements such as normalisation of diplomatic relations with China, the former Soviet Union and North Korea.
Lawyers of the guilty men plan to appeal against their sentences, but are unlikely to win the appeal. If, however, the current President Kim Young Sam grants them amnesty or reduces their sentences, he could himself be voted out of office at the next election. However, some of the populace's anger against the two ex-presidents has waned after the trial proved that they represented only a part of the corruption prevalent in almost every layer of South Korean society. An opinion poll published in the independent newspaper Hankyoreh, said most South Koreans feel the two former presidents will be pardoned. According to the poll, 69 per cent of South Koreans feel Chun and Roh will be pardoned while 31 per cent think they will not.
Tags