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After the Samsung Group in May handed the Education Ministry a W800-billion (US$1=W965) scholarship fund, the foundation¡¯s entire board resigned over the weekend. That again puts into limbo the unprecedented donation announced by its chairman Lee Kun-hee to give weight to apologies over attempts to dodge inheritance and gift tax in handing control of the conglomerate to Lee¡¯s only son. "The name, project purposes and management formula of the foundation to be revised by the Education Ministry," Samsung said.
It was the biggest donation ever made here, so how the money is used will set an important precedent for other donations from corporations and individuals in the future. Charity is a social lubricant and a yardstick indicating a country¡¯s state of progress. A voluntary donation culture can bloom only when people see society improve through their donations. There is more benefit now in concentrating our attention on how to use the W800 billion usefully and leave the barren argument whether the Samsung donation was voluntary or forced upon it behind.
What we should avoid in the distribution of Samsung's W800 billion donation is splitting it up between several accounts. "It fits in with the social climate that the money should be used to help the poor and marginalized, and reducing the wide gap in education opportunities.¡± President Roh Moo-hyun said shortly after the Samsung announcement. But if Roh¡¯s idea is adopted as a guideline for the foundation, W800 billion would melt away instantly. Any relief for a large number of unspecified people from low-income brackets must come from the government, not from the private sector. Private contributions must be used for more specific purposes, such as establishing higher education institutes like the Pohang University of Science and Technology, scholarships for outstanding students from poor families, or full scholarships giving students not only tuition fees but also living costs.
A foundation established with W30 trillion by Bill Gates, meanwhile, is endeavoring to develop vaccines for treatments of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria that major pharmaceutical corporations shy away from because they are unprofitable, and helping 40 countries from Mongolia to Zimbabwe. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, by combining such clear-cut objectives and highly-developed fund management technology, has opened a new area for charity. Here too, the new board of the Samsung Foundation must be manned with people of vision and selflessness. It must not become another playground for dubious activist groups or ideologically dubious people in the government whose charity all too often begins at home ? their own.
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