VietNamNet Bridge - All the 68 central party committees have successfully organized the party congress for the 2015-2020 office term. At least 7.9 percent of provincial and municipal commissioners elected were below 40 years of age.

 

The figure released by the Communist Party’s Central Organization Committee is worth pondering.

The appearance of young personnel aged below 40 in the party committees’ organization is believed to be a ‘more active sign’ compared with the last terms of office.

However, the figure still cannot satisfy those people who are interested in the Communist Party’s destiny.

Vu Quoc Hung, former deputy chair of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Inspection, once said he hoped the Party would not find it difficult to look for good cadres.

A 7.9 percent proportion of young cadres means a modest 2.5 percent increase compared with the last office term. The figure shows that the breakthrough made by local party committees is not strong enough, though the Communist Party’s Politburo released instructions on the issue quickly. 

The subjective way of thinking and the lack of information about changes in the thoughts of party members, which leads to a lack of measures to settle existing problems, could be seen as the major reasons why local party committees still have not found 38 commissioners, 39 members of the standing committees and 9 municipal party committee secretaries and deputy secretaries. 

In order to make a breakthrough in staffing work, it is necessary to pay higher attention to young cadres who have outstanding capabilities. They need to be cultivated and promoted to higher positions.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has recently considered a report from the Ministry of Interior Affairs on the plan to send 600 young intellectuals to difficult areas where they will take the posts of the communes’ deputy chairs. 

After one year of implementation, many good and bad things have been exposed. However, the plan implementation should be continued while problems need to be fixed.

If the communes’ deputy chairs can play important roles in the communes’ strong development, and if they perform very well in implementing their duties, why don’t we think of promoting them to the posts of communes’ party committee’s secretary, or districts’ deputy chairs?

If leaders can show outstanding capabilities and have many initiatives which help bring high socio-economic effects, these could be seen as reasons for them to rise suddenly in ranks.

If so, in just five or seven more years, the number of committee members at the ages of below 40 in provinces and cities will not only increase by 2-3 percent on every term of office, but by 15 or 20 percent.

Every development period of the country has its own typical characteristics. Tran Phu and Ha Huy Tap assumed the responsibility of the Communist Party’s Secretary General when they were in their 20s and 30s. Secretary General Truong Chinh was 34 when he led the party and people in holding manoeuvres, a preparation step for the August Revolution victory.

However, this does not mean that following generations will have to take heavy responsibilities at such young ages like Tran Phu, Ha Huy Tap and Truong Chinh.

Vietnam once experienced tough periods during the revolution, when the country was portioned into south and north. Therefore, the party congress could not be organized for a long time, from 1960 to 1975. This explains why there was a generation of old leaders. However, it is the old leaders who have led the nation to a legendary triumph.

It is a growing tendency in the world that young people are chosen to become country leaders. In 2011, a Vietnamese-German was appointed to the post of Minister of Health in Germany at the age of 38. Germany’s ruling party later appointed him to join the federal cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economics.  

In France, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem was appointed to the post of Minister of Women's Rights and then the Minister of Youth & Sports in 2012 when she was 35. She is now the Minister of Education. Sweden now has the youngest Minister in history – she was born in 1987.

In Vietnam, the appointment of young people to key positions should be seen as ‘normal’ and ‘necessary’.

There should be both old and young cadres in the apparatus because they, with their own strong and weak points, can support each other well. And this is the reason why there must be a strategy on cadre cultivation. Inheriting for development – this is the dialectic law of history.

Quoc Phong