Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
A speech by Singapore's senior minister Lee Kuan Yew, published in the Insight section of the South China Morning Post on September 27, reminds me of this famous line by the 19th century British historian Lord Acton.
Mr Lee's speech told of how the People's Action Party (PAP), which he co-founded in 1954, managed to stay clean and honest even after the PAP succeeded in winning power.
Today, despite being the ruling party in Singapore since 1959, the PAP has a reputation for being corruption-free. So has the country.
That is no mean feat, as is evidenced by the numerous corruption scandals involving politicians that have surfaced in countries surrounding Singapore over the years. Mr Lee attributed the PAP's integrity to its policy of giving no hostages to fortune.
Unlike political parties in many other democratic countries, which have to seek donations from either trade unions or big businesses to fund costly campaigns to win elections, the PAP relies on volunteers to staff its branches and run elections.
