VietNamNet Bridge - It is a rule that in the absence of official information, the enemy will immediately take advantage of an information shortage to drive information to another dimension.

Several incidents recently have significantly affected the development of the country, contributed by lack of information transparency. Here the author does not mention the issues of national security and defense, the areas that need to be protected and the information that must be confidential. But information in many areas that are unrelated to national security are also kept “secret".

Transparency – index of development

Indeed, some people took advantage of the name of "internal affairs", "business secrets", "state secrets" ... to conceal information to serve group or personal benefits. Therefore, information about public tenders and projects and even the recruitment and appointment of state officials was also kept “secret”.

Transparency is considered an indicator of development and democracy. In fact, the places that have transparency have no grounds for lies or no gaps for taking advantage of loopholes to seek personal profits.

We have many laws or decrees relating to transparency. But in fact it is extremely difficult to implement these rules.

The anti-corruption law is an example. Corruption is a burning matter of society today, which is included among the four risks for the development of the country. The fact shows that transparency in public procurement, public construction, the use of state money, equitization of state-owned enterprises, management of state-owned enterprises and personal assets declaration... is an indispensable requirement in state management.

But what is the reality? 

The regulations on personal asset declaration was said to be the breakthrough of anti-corruption laws, but in practice the implementation is not successful.

The personnel organization and the appointment process of officials are considered to be very tight, but the implementation of this process is formal. If that process is carried out well, why are the qualifications of officials so poor? Why do state-owned enterprises incur huge losses?

Why it is hard to perform transparency?

So, what makes some policies of the Party, State hard to come to life? Why is the policy of transparency ineffective in some sectors?

Firstly, it is noted that information is a special commodity. If in the military, the information is the key factor for victory, then in daily life, information is also the element for success. As information is a precious thing to win, information must be kept "secret".

Many people want to keep information in order to seek profit. But who has information? Only state officials. The information about project bidding, the construction of new roads and new residential areas or even information about official recruitment has become extremely valuable, particularly when the ask-give mechanism exists. To seek benefit from such information, information must be “secret”.

In the tender, information must be kept secret for all members, and it is also ... transparent. But it is wrong when the information is kept secret for these members but not for others. In this circumstance, information has become a means for seeking personal profit and it is not transparent.

Thirdly, the information is exchanged fraudulently or is deformed. This is quite common. The policies are right and good but the implementation of these policies may be very different in fact. Some seek to disable or distort the policies. For example the policy on personal asset declaration is good but this policy is not effective because people use tricks to counteract this policy. The assets of officials can be registered under the names of their wives or relatives while the state does not have a mechanism to verify this. The banking system cannot control the “root” of the money in circulation.

“Purchasing” positions in state agencies is also a big problem today. It is time to have suitable processes, demonstrating transparency in the selection and recruitment of state officials based on their true talent and qualities.

In many countries, the head has the right to recruit his staff but the head must be fully responsible for his appointment, which is transparency. In our country, the personnel work is the responsibility of organizations. Actually, the head of organizations is the one who makes decisions but when something wrong happens, the responsibility belongs to the entire organization, not the head. This becomes a hideout for violations and lack of transparency.

Finally, lack of transparency of information is also a fertile land for the enemy to take advantage of. It is a rule that in the absence of official information, the enemy will take advantage of it to drive information to another direction. Therefore, in the flat world, information must be transparent to create stability, to build people’s trust.

Nguyen Dang Tan