Bo Xilai, the man who could be President

Seeing this man in handcuffs is creepy. He was the forerunner to be the President of China. He was charismatic and had a string of records in public administration, taking on tough appointments and the triads in his last appointment. A bright rising star eclipsed at the peak of his power.
 
China has just brought down one of the most power man in the Communist Party, stripped off his post and sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption and abused of power. His wife is serving a suspended death sentence for the murder of a British, Neil Heywood, whom they trusted and entrusted with the well being of their son and their overseas investments. This story is a repeated of the colonial days when the decadent rich sucked up to the foreigners to guard their ill gotten wealth and eventually got ripped off by them. History is repeating with the pathetic Chinese rich not learning the lessons of the past.
 
This is perhaps the biggest story of modern China, to take down one of their close comrades at such a high level, put him on trial and ended with a life sentence. The evidence was so overwhelming that justice was served in accordance with the rule of law and the rumour of a revolt by the supporters of Bo fizzled out quietly.
 
There were fears of a coup of sort or instability. They were fears that justice would not be served. The trials of Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai were a showcase of modern Chinese legal system and transparency. It was also a statement that corruption would be dealt with even at the highest place of power. This is not seen in many countries, including Asean.
 
The verdict on Bo Xilai is a signal the Xi Jinping leadership is sending to the Chinese bureaucracy that corruption and abuse of power will not be tolerated. Would this lead to more heads being rolled? Given the prevalence of corruption at high places, this is only the beginning, an unnecessary evil that has to be done and seen to be done to keep China on an even keel and prevent it from collapsing prematurely.
 
Xi Jinping needs to run a tight ship to keep the Chinese govt in a healthy state for the future. Allowing corruption to sink roots and corrupt officials to run the country would see the growth of China going down quickly as predicted by many doomsayers in the West. The taking down of Bo Xilai is a gingerly step forward and more needs to be done to prevent China going back to its decadent past.