Public interests are lasting, private gains are temporary: dialog

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 18, 2003

Public interests are lasting, private gains are temporary: dialog

Following is a dialog between People's Daily correspondent Dong Hongjun and a veteran Chinese Communist Party (CPC) member Fu Xuejian, who has a Party standing of over 40 years. Fu's motto of life is "public interests are eternal, while private gains are temporary".

DISCUSSION

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Fu Xuejian, member of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial People's Congress and chairman of the Provincial People's Congress agricultural and rural committee, and departmental-level cadre with a Party standing of over 40 years, has written the book entitled "Forthright Admonition in the Flourishing Age". For 20 years he has been submitting his written statements to the higher authorities in which he dares to speak truth and give frank admonition. His motto of life is "public interests are eternal, while private gains are temporary".

Recently, a forum on the revision and publication of the book "Forthright Admonition in the Flourishing Age" was held in Beijing by the China Democracy and Legality Publishing House and the Hunan Provincial Cultural Department. At the forum, the participants generally expressed the view that today when efforts are being made to build a well-off society in an all-round way and under the new circumstance in which a new upsurge is set off for the whole Party to study and implement the "three represents" important thought and to put into practice the task of "establishing the Party for public interests and exercising administration for the people", the said book will play an active role in promoting the common practice of seeking truth and being pragmatic that features speaking truth, doing practical things and pursuing practical results in the whole Party. Lately, this correspondent had an interview with Fu Xuejian, the author of the book, in Beijing.

Correspondent: I have read the book "Forthright Admonition in the Flourishing Age" which collects the investigation reports, criticisms, proposals and people's voices, written statements you have submitted to the higher authorities over the past 20-odd years, I was deeply moved and touched by it. From its appearance in 1998 to the present, three editions of this book have been published, its influence is expanding throughout the country. When appraising the book Comrade Liao Hansheng said, the biggest value of the book lies in the word "truth". Would you please tell me how have you accomplished this "truth" in your book?

Fu Xuejian: Bringing benefit for the people is the bounden duty of the Communists. When one dare not even speak truth, how can he or she bring benefit for the people? In my letter to the Party Central Committee in 1991, which discussed the question of combating corruption and promoting honesty and uprightness, I put in such words, "Compared with reporting good news, I would rather report bad news. I am not a perfect man, but I am a Communist Party member and people's deputy, I am not a man who does not speak out when he has something to say and does not do things that need to be done. I always oppose "talking with reservation". I was studying in the Central Party School in 1978, the time when the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee was held. At the time of graduation, the central Party leadership told us: "After you return to your work units, you should send letters on the actual demands of farmers at the grassroots level directly to me or to the Party Central Committee, reporting to us the actual situation." After I returned to Hunan Province, the first thing I did was to spend the whole night on copying the excerpt of Deng Xiaoping's speech on the ideological line "emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts and uniting as one looking forward to the future" and on the discussion regarding the criterion for judging truth and sending it to the secretary of the then provincial Party committee. The second thing I did was going down to the countryside to engage in practice, emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, conducting investigation and study and reporting farmers' actual voice to the Party. Now in a twinkling of the eye, more than 20 years have passed.

Correspondent; In "a Bureaucracy Memorandum", you pointed out sharply the serious problems in the then Ouyang Hai reservoir area and the irrigated area: One was the trouble of the political migration was too big and the suffering of ordinary people lasted too long. Your investigation report, criticisms and proposals were full of sincerity and moving. But have you ever thought that those who dare to speak truth and speak bluntly for the people generally are not welcomed, some even suffer losses and hardships. What's your view about this?

Fu Xuejian; In our Party there had appeared a general named Peng who was realistic and dared to speak truth and "galloped ahead with sword drawn", at the Lushan meeting in 1959, this devoted Peng Dehuai was labeled as a Right opportunist and died in wrongs during the cultural revolution, this is a historical tragedy. The Third Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central Committee restored the realistic ideological line and rehabilitated him. He was a model in our Party who persistently adhered to the fine tradition of being realistic and dared to speak forthright for the people. At the same time, we will never forget that in the early 1970s there appeared in our Party the careerist and schemer Lin Biao who claimed that "one would not accomplish any big things if he did not tell lies". "Always holding Chairman Mao's quotations in his hands, shouting the slogan 'Long Live' with his mouth, saying nice things to one's face, then stabbing him in the back", this is a penetrating portrayal of the features of Lin Biao as a double-dealer. History warns people of today that those who tell lies and do false things will come to no good end. Things are different nowadays, the Party's democratic style has developed. Therefore, in my own view, I will come to a good end because I speak truth. The many opinions I raised have aroused the high attention of the Party organization and won the great support of the masses of people. For instance, my suggestion on the appointment of supervisory commissioners has been accepted.

Correspondent; From the case of Cheng Weigao ( the former chief leader of Hebei Province), everybody has come to know Guo Guangyun, a person who dares to speak bluntly, what's your view about his lot?

Fu Xuejian: Daring to speak truth to speak forthrightly for the people, this needs to be vigorously advocated in today's society. When the force of the healthy trend is great, it will prevail over the evil trend. Although a person's strength sometimes appears to be thin and weak and will suffer temporary setbacks sometimes, justness, however, will eventually triumph over evil.

Correspondent: In the postscript of this book (third edition), you said, "speaking truth or telling lies is a 'touchstone' for examining one's outlook on world, life and value".

Fu Xuejian: It is known to all that in the family, parents do not teach their children to tell lies; in schools, teachers do not teach their students to tell lies; in army units, the senior officers do not teach their soldiers to tell lies. Then, who, after all, teach some people to tell lies? I think there is only one "teacher" who does it, he is named "Benefit", that is, the master of fame and gain. We would like to ask, aren't those telling lies and doing false things aim to get fame and gain? The carrier of this master of fame and gain is a person's outlook on world, on life and on value, the core of his outlook is the word "private". It is hidden deep in one's innermost world, without uttering a single word, but it has an extremely strong penetrating power and plays a corrosive role. If you lack a correct outlook on world, life and value, it will frantically drive your soul to head toward evil.

Correspondent: Those who tell lies and do false things claim that they lie and fabricate false official achievement because they have no other alternative, it sounds as if these cadres had a full stomach of bitter grievances.

Fu Xuejian: In the final analysis, isn't this the trouble made by their urge to make personal "fame" and "gain"? They fear the lack of "official achievement" would affect their rise in ranks. If they sincerely work for the "people", would they still tell lies and do false things? No..

Correspondent; How to look upon a handful of people telling lies?

Fu Xuejian; Profitability is the most essential reason for telling lies. Comrade Chen Yun once said that leading cadres "should widely make bosom friends who dare to speak truth". When certain people who serve as "junior officials, they still have several intimate friends daring to speak truth, but along with the development of their undertakings, those comrades promoted to higher leading posts have seen their previous bosom friends gradually become not so intimate as before, so when they meet, they talk no more to each other, not even "talk with reservation". Then maintaining blood-and-flesh" ties with the masses is simply out of the question.

Correspondent: How to solve the problem concerning telling lies?

Fu Xuejian: To solve this problem, it is first necessary for leading cadres to take the lead in listening to and telling truth, and take a clear-cut stand in opposing the practice of telling lies. The key lies in the exemplary role played by the chief leader. In the process of combating corruption and building an honest Party style of work, it is necessary first to list the decadent practices, such as telling lies, doing false things, and reporting only good news and not bad news, as the important contents of the struggle against bureaucracy and formalism, and to resolutely check this evil wind from the high plane of consolidating the political power and the position of the ruling Party and in compliance with the requirement of the "three represents". In dealing with those leading cadres who comply in public but oppose in private, the best method is "reducing an official to the ranks of the people", and mercilessly taking back his power given by the Party and people.

Correspondent: Your motto apparently places particular emphasis on "public" and "private".

Fu Xuejian: Years ago, I read the autobiography of a Taiwan compatriot, while speaking about how should one take the road of life and how should one conduct oneself, he said the following words: Without property is not poverty, without learning is poverty; without ranking is not lowly, shamelessness is lowly; without longevity is not dying young, without works means dying young; without children is not loneliness, without virtue is loneliness. I think this passage of words is full of philosophy of life. Here lies the most essential and most fundamental difference between the example set by leading cadres and the corrupt elements and their ilk. "Public interests are lasting, while private gains are temporary". This is the eternal truth of human society and it should be the motto of the Communists.

By People's Daily Online

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