VietNamNet Bridge – Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has asked transport officials to not play golf anymore.
The minister has sent a dispatch on this issue to Ministry of Transport’s agencies. According to the dispatch, as some transport officials have spent a lot of time in playing golf, they have not performed their job well.

Minister Thang asks chairs, members of management boards, general directors, deputy general directors and high-ranking officials of state-owned businesses under the Ministry of Transport and officials at management agencies under the ministry to not play golf and concentrate on their missions, particularly in the current difficult period.

Minister Thang instructs the Personnel Department to oversee the implementation of this regulation.

The Personnel Department’s chief Pham Tang Loc told Tien Phong Newspaper on October 18: “We will take secret measures to supervise officials. In this difficult time, officials need to focus their mind in implementing key projects rather than playing golf and waste their time. Some of them even use government’s cars to go to golf courses.”

“It is legal to play golf at weekend but it may distract officials from their missions. Officials must accept sacrifices. This is an internal rule, which doesn’t violate the law,” Minister Thang said.

Le Hong Son, head of the Ministry of Justice’s Legal Document Checking Department, said that he would research legal documents to define whether Minister Thang has the right to ban his subordinates from playing golf outside working hours. Officials have their private rights as normal citizens.

Le Nguyen