Normally, civil servants cannot afford such costly pastimes since they earn average salaries. Evidently, they are paying by embezzling funds or someone else is footing the bill for them. Whatever, these officials are seeking personal benefits at the expense of the common interest. The authorities need to be made aware of this blatant corruption and it is the lack of inspection that has allowed such rampant abuse of the system.

Facts show that most corruption scandals are uncovered by the public or media. It is felt that there are few channels to monitor and supervise officials and discipline them more effectively. Ironically, some officials in charge of discipline are initially corrupted because of the very lack of supervision on them. We should include all these high-end venues like five-star hotels and restaurants, massage parlors and golf clubs on the list to be investigated for links to corruption.

Lu Zhijian (zjc.zjol.com.cn): "The game of aristocrats and the preserve of the rich" is how we can classify golf on the Chinese mainland. It's a sport that ordinary people just cannot afford.

It is natural for the wealthy to play golf for entertainment, but the fact that civil servants and other officials are playing the sport daily is definitely cause for concern.

Though government officials earn a reasonable wage, compared with most common people, it is not at a level where they could afford regular golf games. Their frequent visits to golf clubs might be explained by illicitly obtained money. And in most cases, they have to repay their newfound perks through abusing their power. The power-for-money deal is just the beginning of corruption.

Chen Cai (hlj.rednet.cn): The high costs of golf cannot be met by Chinese civil servants. Their presence in this sport can give us some evidence to explore possible corruption.

In South Korea, for instance, their civil servants and officials are prohibited from playing golf with working partners. If the situation does warrant it, they should report it to their working units in order to prevent the possibility of any corrupt practice.

He Yonghai (Dazhong Daily): Investigation work could be tough considering the various registration requirements for memberships of different clubs. Despite this, if the Central Government is really determined to find the truth, investigations need to be done. It is the only way to uncover which clubs are involved and which officials are corrupt. Perhaps we could adopt a real name registration system for membership to eventually prevent any one from flying "under the radar."

Golf is just one example. There could very well be many other high-end luxury traps with which to lure officials to commit crimes. We should modify or adjust our present system to prevent corruption in advance.

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