VietNamNet Bridge – “Now I’m a deputy minister so it is difficult for me to speak up in my role as a National Assembly deputy. As an insider, I need to listen to others to do my job better,” says Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Tien Dinh.  

 

 

Dinh was elected to the legislature as a deputy for Hanoi while chairman and Party secretary of the Hanoi Labour Federation.

VietNamNet asked Dinh what he thinks about the draft Law on the Capital City.

Nguyen Tien Dinh: Many people have said that the Law on the Capital City favours Hanoi too much, but any cabinet member can see that there need to be special policies for the capital. Its current infrastructure and technical facilities are overloaded and can’t meet the needs of a growing population.

In the past, it was extremely difficult for people to become a legal Hanoi resident.  Nowadays the formalities are simpler but we can’t do away with hộ khẩu (family record books). That system is still needed to control rampant in-migration.

Many countries in the world don’t use family books anymore but in Vietnam, that document remains the basis of our population management system and accords with current management and material conditions. When we have other means and capabilities to manage the population, or people from other provinces no longer flock to Hanoi, we will not use hộ khẩu any longer.

The Law on Residence accords me the freedom to choose the place where I live and have a house there, but it is a big problem if we allow people from other provinces to freely migrate into the cities. The cities will become untidy and the people will complain that the local governments are bad managers.

I must admit that our management has been poor, but actually, anybody who manages Hanoi can’t achieve a great deal under the current policies. The country has only one capital, so it is clear that Hanoi needs special policies.  

VietNamNet: Since you assumed the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs post you have not often spoken in the legislature. . . .

Dinh: Last year I didn’t speak much because I was busy with business trips. Now, moreover, it is really difficult for me to speak because I’m the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs.

It was different when I worked at the Hanoi Labor Federation. I could make suggestions to others and to the Government. Now I’m a cabinet member, an insider, I have listen carefully to what other deputies say, but I still speak when it is necessary.

Previously, the Hanoi delegation often assigned me to address economic issues but now I can’t do that because I’m a cabinet member. If I make suggestions, in a sense I’m advising myself.

I also have made comments on bills but in truth, I don’t have time to read all the documents provided to NA deputies. The NA discusses seven or eight bills each session but I can only comment on perhaps two, because before I speak at the NA, I should do deep research but I’m just too busy with my job at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

VietNamNet: How much time do you give to your role as an NA deputy?

Dinh: In principle, deputies have to spend at least 30 percent of their time on Assembly activities but it depends. Sometimes when I was attending NA meetings, the Minister would assign an urgent task. I had no choice to leave the meetings!

But I try hard to fulfil the tasks of oversight and seeing constituents, though I miss some meetings when I have overseas business trips.

I also participate in the work of the Committee for Finance and Budget. I fully took part in committee activities in 2008 but not very much in 2009 because I was so busy. 

VietNamNet: You are in charge of administrative reforms at the Ministry of Home Affairs. Are you concerned that our government machinery keeps swelling?

Dinh: The expansion of the government machinery is actually an increase of government employees, not of civil servants. We have to differentiate between government employees and civil servants. We will have the separate laws on government employees and civil servants.

Civil servants are people who work at and are paid by state administrative agencies, while government employees are the ones who work at state-run functional units in the fields of healthcare, education, and so on.

Vietnam currently has several million government employees but only 500,000 civil servants.

Government employees can also earn income from other sources, but civil servants working at administrative agencies are only entitled to their salaries.  These official salaries are still low. As a Deputy Minister, I’m only paid five million dong a month (about $260). If the government raises salaries, the civil servants should be given priority so they can work without worry [about having enough to live on – ed].

VietNamNet: Will you serve in the Assembly for another term?

Dinh: I think that would be difficult. It depends on position and structure. Untll recently I was the representative of Hanoi. Now I belong to the Ministry of Home Affairs so it is awkward.

Even for the thirty percent who are full-time deputies, there is a certain structure [to ensure appropriate representation of all localities and sectors]. All of the seventy percent who are part-time deputies are representatives of provinces and sectors.

Cao Nhat