A gavel in a court. [Photo/IC]

If an official cooks the books of his or her personal record for promotion, can he or she still be trusted? This is a question that the ruling Communist Party of China must consider carefully.

In a recent national check of the personal records of officials under the auspices of provincial Party organizational departments, 420 officials were found to have falsified information about their age or work experience or academic credentials in order to obtain promotions or other benefits.

They have almost all received disciplinary punishments, and 186 are now on probation.

Obvious as the motivations are for such behavior, what it highlights first and foremost is their lack of personal integrity, which definitely falls short of the requirement for a member of the ruling Party, to say nothing of that for someone who is supposed to serve the public.

There is undoubtedly a close association between the rampant abuse of power among ranking officials and the harsh reality that many of them harbor the dream of wielding power to seek personal gains from the moment they begin their efforts to climb the ladder of rank.

Love of a comfortable life is not the problem if one seeks recognition through honest efforts, and neither is the dream of climbing the official hierarchy, as long as one hopes to do it through honesty and hard work.

With those officials who are bold enough to put into their personal records false information about their work experience, academic credentials and even their date of birth, the Party is facing a crisis by placing in various important positions officials who cannot be trusted.

The ruling Party wants clean and efficient governance that serves the public, and this is of vital importance to its legitimacy. The falsifying of their personal records by Party members, ranking officials in particular, therefore, should never be tolerated.

What these officials are doing through their dishonesty is cheating the Party. If they manage to cheat their way to a powerful position, it will be only natural for them to continue to cheat by trading power for personal gains whenever possible and thus bring discredit to the Party and government.

For the reputation of the Party and interests of the country, such people should be denied the opportunity for promotion