OPINION> Commentary
Cheats mustn't pass
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-19 07:35

All cheatings are bad, but ones that pollute public life are the most reprehensible. Those who cheat in examinations for civil servants fall into the category of worst offenders and deserve the severest punishment.

State Bureau of Civil Servants revealed last week that nearly 1,000 candidates were caught cheating in the examinations last year, the largest number ever. Of them, more than 500 got the answers through some technological aid from illegal organizations. These organizations supposedly provide examinees with standard answers to examination papers for a fee.

As everyone knows, what cheating in exams challenges is the principle of fairness and equality. There are strict rules to punish students who cheat in school tests and those who cheat in national college entrance exams. But there are no specific rules with regard to cheating in exams for civil servants. Shanghai's rules stipulate that anyone who is found cheating in such exams will not be allowed to take them for five years.

Those who have cheated their way into the rank of civil servants have robbed others of the opportunity to compete fairly for the same positions. One person's dishonesty can damage the course of another person's life.

Worse still, we can hardly trust these people to cheat only in exams. What if they cheat in the exercise of public power once they are put in a public position? That will infringe upon the interest of the general public and undermine the rule of law.

Civil servants are supposed to be role models in personal moral integrity and for observing relevant rules. Cheating in order to be one of them is an irony. Such dishonesty in exams raises suspicion about their motivations to get access to public power.

In ancient times, anyone who was found cheating in imperial exams would be executed. Both designers of the exam system and emperors who were top leaders of government knew how dangerous it could be to put power in the hands of a corrupt, immoral person.

Likewise, we for sure can never trust anyone who cheats in exams on his way to exercising public power.

Although the exams are designed to select the most competent people, who will be able to do a good job in the exercise of public power, moral integrity needs to be placed first in the selection of civil servants.

In recent years, the number of people who take part in the exams for civil servants is rapidly increasing. And the ratio of enrollment is much higher than that for institutions of higher learning.

So it is of vital importance to select people with talent and moral integrity for government positions. Dishonesty in examinations for civil servants can defeat the very purpose of having these tests. It is time rules were framed to ensure that those who are found cheating in these exams can never enter the ranks of the civil service.

(China Daily 01/19/2009 page4)