GREAT Honor Roll
We honor and salute the following for their work for GREAT (Governance
with Respect, Ethics, Accountability and Transparency).
Michael Camdessus, Chief of IMF for push for good government
everywhere.
The Ethicist of New York Times
Magazine who regularly answers anonymous ethical questions sent to ethicist@nytimes.com.
Mr.
Anna Hazare, a well-known Gandhian style corruption fighter from India.
Dr.
Peter Eigen, Chairman of Transparency International.
Dr.
Frank Vogl, Vice Chairman Transparency International.
Dr. James D. Wolfensohn,
President of World Bank for bringing the discussion of corruption into the
forefront.
Justice Efren Plana,
Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue for innovations.
A pioneering effort called
OPEN (Online Procedures Enhancement for civil applications) system is made in Seoul South Korea. See URL: http://english.metro.seoul.kr/government/policies/anti/civilapplications/
The effort was started under Kun Goh, Mayor of Seoul,
South Korea and continues under the new mayor Myung-bak Lee. Mr. Dai Ryoung
Cho, Director General of Audit and Inspections is helping to create e-government around the world. In
particular Prof. Vinod of IEEP thanks Mr. Cho for answering many practical
questions and providing IEEP with an access to the software for OPEN at a
meeting in Seoul City Hall on August 23, 2002.
Roman Catholic priest, Rev.
John Anthony Kaiser, 67, gave his life on Aug. 24, 2000, for exposing
corruption in Kenya. (New York Times, Aug. 25, 2000, item by Ian Fisher).
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Introduction
The Bible (eleventh commandment?) says: Thou shalt not take
offerings, which make the clear-eyed blind and the words of the just,
crooked. (Exodus 23: 1-3, 6-8).
Geeta, Ch. 16 defines corruption as any acquisition of wealth with
injustice for shady purposes. Ch. 18
(v31-32) Human mind finds excuses for corruption and even starts believing
that it is proper.
DISCLAIMER: You are agreeing to a disclaimer mentioned
earlier. Please let us know if you find any errors or omissions. We honor the
brave individual who broke corruption stories, who provided vital evidence,
etc. Please send us your nominations.
Further description of some items in the Right Panel shaded brown is provided on this home
page.
A click on “Recent news of International
Relevance” in the right panel gives the latest news items and
information about corruption and governance.
For example, you can read further details about: (1) The Group of
Seven leading industrialized nations announced a new campaign to deter money
launderers and erode tax havens. (2) Interpol is an
entity composed of 178 members states. It became actively involved in
initiatives to curb corruption in April 1998.
Detailed news and information about corruption fight in 100+ individual countries and large regions (e.g.,
OECD, Latin America, etc.) is available. The corruption perception index
(CPI) rank and other country-specific information is provided. Just click on
the “Country Index.” For large countries, state-specific web
pages are created. We honor corruption fighters, news reporters and public
prosecutors in some individual countries. You can join a discussion for each
country by clicking on “New Topic” at a link
provided there.
We provide additional wealth of information, references (e.g. Economics
research journal references), government and non-government sources and
numerous useful links about various organizations fighting corruption. There is one link to Jehovah's Witness Watchtower
articles on corruption. Just
click here on “Resources ” or along
the right panel. As a further example of useful resource, we provide full text
for “US Freedom of Information Act” and similar GREAT acts in UK and
elsewhere. We hope that lawmakers in all countries would help pass similar
legislation. We include information about ethics laws and definitions of
“conflict of interest.” Information
about training programs, whistle blower protection is also worth copying. Our
aim is to encourages sharing of information to avoid reinventing the wheel.
For quotes or One-Liners against
corruption click on the word “One-Liners” in the right panel. We are hoping
to translate these thoughts in various languages. We need more catchy
one-liners and their appealing poetic translations in all languages of the
world. We hope that celebrities,
scientists and VIPs in various countries lend their names in support to these
thoughts and that newspapers and other media provide outlets to these
one-liners as public service announcements.
Using ART to promote GREAT:
Art can obviously help improve governance and fight corruption. We post information
about movies, documentaries, cartoons (click on Resources and go
alphabetically to cartoons), novels, paintings, sculptures, etc. in web pages
for individual countries. Some
examples are:
Movies
Movies are a powerful medium for fighting corruption. Click on individual
countries (e.g. India) for local language examples. We seek further
examples. One example is Boiler Room written and directed
by Ben Younger, produced by Team Todd is about Wall Street fraud-corruption.
(NYTimes Review, Sunday Feb. 13, 2000, p. AR13).
“Proof of Life,” a Warner Brothers movie directed by Taylor Hackford is
written by Tony Gilroy. Meg Ryan plays Alice Bowman and Russell Crowe plays
Terry Thorne. It is set in present-day
South America, where there is massive corruption and selfishness, and where
money rules everything. Terry fights corruption and rescues a kidnapping
victim.
An excellent source for Asian films is:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Asianfilm.html
Anti-corruption Plays: Dario Fo, playwright and comic actor got
the Nobel prize in 1997. He has written and staged five plays since then. He
ridicules greed or hypocrisy. The larger the target the more malicious is his
satire. With “Accidental Death of an Anarchist,” he attacked police
corruption; in “We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!”, where he staunchly defended
beleaguered consumers, and in “About Face,” he crosscut the effects of
terrorism and capitalism. (New York Times, September 23, 2000).“SAVED” by
Edward Bond. It is a tale of a single mother, her embattled parents and the
lover who helps kill his own infant son by stoning it to death in its
carriage. The play's conclusion suggests that some people can retain certain
goodness despite corruption all around. (NY Times February 23, 2001).
Director Soderberg’s film “Traffic” shows drug wars and corruption.
Cartoons: Click here for some examples.
Buying Influence a Subway Token?
Mr. Chung who gave $50,000 for Mrs. Clinton s senate campaign compared
White House to a subway. You have to put in the coins to open the gates.
(New York Times, March 15, 2000, p. A23).
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