VietNamNet Bridge - According to Deputy Minister of Justice - Hoang The Lien, the Constitution must have long-term viability so only ripe issues will be fixed, the rest will be adjusted by bills.

 

 

Deputy Minister of Justice - Hoang The Lien.

At the recent meeting between the Ministry of Justice with businesses on the draft amendments to the 1992 Constitution, many participants expressed a desire to build a Constitution that has a long life and is especially concise.

Mr. Le Khac Triet, Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Rural Small and Medium-sized Industries, said that many "rights" of citizens stated in the 1992 Constitution have not been implemented yet and now they are added to the draft.

"Citizens have the right of setting up associations, the right to demonstrate, the right to freedom of speech ... These sensitive phrases are included in the Constitution, but I wonder whether they are executed in reality or they are just added to the Constitution for rhetoric?" Triet asked.

He proposed that the contents that could not be implemented in practice should not be put into the Constitution yet.

Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc, Chairman of the Banking Legislation Club, suggested eliminating all regulations on "taking advantage of, prohibiting" and to write the Constitution in a clear and easy to understand way for the people to read.

Duc added that many issues are just described generally as "prescribed by law" while the fact require specific regulations for implementation.
Mr. Duc said that the Constitution should not raise general slogans that are only general statements and should not even write about the issues that are still controversial, impossible for implementation or not supported by people.

Deputy Minister of Justice--Hoang The Lien, said the correct view of the Constitution is to fix pressing problems that made it difficult for the development process. With the view that the Constitution must have long-term viability, only ripe issues will be fixed, the rest will be adjusted by bills.

Relating to economic institutions, the majority agreed with the draft Constitution that equally recognizes the role of all economic sectors. However, many issues need to be clarified.

Mr. Tran Vu Vuong, Head of the Legal Department of Lilama Corporation, said that the provision on the competence of the Government as a representative of the state ownership of economic resources is not clear. Therefore, losses incurred at some state-owned corporations because the owner and the manager of these groups are unidentified.

Vuong said that the Constitution should not say generally that the state is representative of ownership but clearly states that the Government is the state ownership representative.

"For a long time there were the sources of assets invested by the state but they were treated like un-owned assets. Violations happened but no one is responsible for the irregularities. We must have the owner who takes responsibility," Vuong said.

Vuong suggested adding a phrase to clause 4, article 101: The Government is representative of ownership for the assets and economic resources invested by the state.

The representative of the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises said that in the last two decades, the provisions on economic system in the Constitution 1992, especially in the practical implementation of the provisions when Vietnam joined the WTO, have revealed numerous shortcomings.

The state economy, especially large state-owned enterprises, have not shown the leading role in the economy. A series of state corporations in the industries such as shipbuilding, mechanical engineering, mining ... are expected to be the mainstay of the state economy have become a burden for the economy when they caused losses of a trillion dong.

He also said that the Constitution should be defined more clearly the respect of the rules of operation of the market economy, including the rules of fair and healthy competition, ensuring better business freedom of the people, appropriately identifying economic role of the state and strictly control measures of state’s intervention in the market economy.

Le Nhung