July 5, 2012
Breaking the Culture of Impunity
by A. Lin Neumann(06-29-12)@www.asiasentinel.com
When the republic begins to confront the legacy of corruption, the discuss invariably passes through what might be called the Who is Untouchable? phase. It is often assumed in most countries which certain people have been only as good tall up upon the domestic food sequence to be ensnared in crime charges.
But what happens when which no longer proves to be the case? What if higher-ups have been not all which high-up after all? Across Asia, the procession of leaders has left to jail upon charges which might look political, though in actuality have been usually associated to crime in tall office.
The experience of the number of Asia's democratic countries seems to prove which the republic can survive as good as prosper after fixing even the highest officials of the land after they have been out of office, in all speaking suspects in various kinds of criminal impropriety whilst in office. There have been countless examples as good as ones which should show some western countries the full of health respect for stony lonesome is the good idea.
In 1996, South Korea convicted the last authoritarian leader, ex-President Chun Doo-hwan (left), as good as his successor, Roh Tae-woo, both former generals, of charges associated to crime as good as abuse of power. The legal movement was initiated by the elected municipal supervision as the way to come to grips with the country's prolonged history of troops rule as good as the low divisions associated to the 1979 manoeuvre as good as the 1980 massacre of municipal protesters in the city of Gwangju.
Chun was condemned to death as ! good as Roh was given the 22-year jail sentence. When long-time domestic restrained Kim Dae-jung was elected boss in 1997, he pardoned both group in the move which was widely seen as an act of national reconciliation.
Since then, countless tip Korean commercial operation management team also have found themselves in justice notwithstanding the huge energy conglomerates swing in the country. In 2008, Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee was convicted in the massive bribery scandal. He was pardoned after giving millions of dollars to charity as good as apologizing to the nation. Corruption crusaders were miffed, though the justice movement underscored the idea which no the single in South Korea is all safe from prosecution.
In Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian (right), who had been President for eight years, was 
forbidden from withdrawal the island an hour after he stepped down upon May 20, 2008, as good as was after tried as good as convicted of rascal involving the make use of of the presidential fund to pursue unfamiliar diplomacy. He was condemned to 17-1/2 years in jail as good as ordered to compensate the fine of NT$ 154 million. His wife, Wu Shu-jen, was convicted as well, though was considered as good sick to go to prison. She remains in residence arrest* as good as he remains in jail notwithstanding the prolonged string of appeals. Both the Kuomintang as good as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pronounced which they respected the court's decision.
Closer to home, the Philippines failed to take to justice former President Ferdinand Marcos after he was deposed in 1986. Former President Joseph Estrada did not fare so well. After he was ousted from bureau by the virtual manoeuvre i! n 2001, he faced countless crime charges. His successor, President 
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, gave him comparison manager clemency as good as he was expelled after seven years of detention. Now Macapagal-Arroyo (left) herself is underneath apprehension following her arrest in November 2011 upon charges of electoral fraud.
In Bangladesh in 2007, the caretaker supervision corroborated by the troops arrested as good as jailed the country's two most prominent politicians, the sour domestic rivals Sheikh Hasina Wajed as good as Begum Khaleda Zia, upon charges of crime as good as anti-state activities, as good as kept them there for more than the year. Eventually they were freed as good as Sheikh Hasina's Awami League went upon to lapse to domestic power.
Finally, in Thailand the justice convicted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of crime in 2008, following his ouster in the 2006 troops coup. He fled the republic as good as remains in exile, although with his sister currently in energy it seems he might eventually be pardoned.
What is engaging about these cases is which the prosecutions occurred in functioning democracies as good as the domestic sequence did not come to an end. There was no troops involvement or cessation of democratic processes as the result of the justice actions. It could easily be argued which the countries involved with the exception of Thailand, where the domestic divide is sour as good as Thaksin remains the deeply polarizing figure survived the charge of their former leaders with their democracies enhanced.
That these prosecutions of depressed Presidents as good as Prime Ministers have been 
politically motivated in most cases is the given, though there is the deeper definition in the ability of Asia's young democracies to move even the most comparison of politicians or their associates to the dock. No the single is or should be untouchable.
It was deeply disappointing to most Filipinos which Marcos was never prosecuted in the Philippine court, though the lady who led the electioneer which booted him into exile, President Corazon Aquino, felt which bringing him home would be destabilizing. It's engaging which her son, the current President Benigno Aquino III, believes the conflicting which prosecuting Arroyo as good as others in her circle, like former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona (above right), will assist the country's battle against corruption.
The Corona impeachment "was the routine which strengthened our democracy," Aquino pronounced later. It is the indicate value noting.
* Corrected 1 Jul 2012. We originally pronounced Wu was in prison.
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