The 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, which will take place in Hanoi in late January 2016, is an extremely important event in the social and political life of our country. The mood of the whole society is placed on the Party’s shoulder the historic mission: what will the Party do to take the country out of poverty to move into a new development stage?

VietNamNet would like to introduce online talks between our readers with Mr. Vu Mao, former Chair of the National Assembly Committee for External Relations, and Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong, Deputy Director of the Theory and Propaganda Department of the Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper.

VietNamNet Editor-in-chief Pham Anh Tuan (right) presents flowers to Mr. Vu Mao and Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong. Photo: Le Anh Dung.

The draft political report of the Party defines: "Promoting social democratization to improve the people's right of mastery, the proactive and creative role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and mass organizations." What is the key for the effective implementation of this? How should we strengthen surveillance activities and social debates, the forms of direct democracy to promote democracy? (Nguyen Van Minh, 36, Dong Da District, Hanoi)

Mr. Vu Mao: Firstly, democracy is a vital element of a society. The draft documents have addressed issues of social democratization, so it is necessary to clarify the content of democracy.

In my opinion, the content of democracy is the construction of the provisions of laws of democracy. Currently, democracy is mentioned as a slogan that has yet to come to life. For example in the judiciary, people still suffer wrongful convictions, so human rights are not respected. There is still the gap between desire by slogans and practical life.

To achieve democracy, we must attach importance to building the state of law. The democratic idea must be reflected in legislation. But in fact, legal documents have yet to specify human rights and indeed legal documents are still missing, not reaching the 70 percent required.

The role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and mass organizations: we desire and require these organizations to be dynamic, proactive and creative in promoting the role of monitoring and social debate. This is the guideline. There is no law on criticism to enable the fronts and mass organizations to do their role efficiently and practically. The draft documents of the Party do not clarify about criticism and critical mechanisms.

Direct democracy is very important and we must apply many forms to implement it.

We should collect the people’s opinions through the Referendum Law. After 70 years of operation of the National Assembly and 30 years of Doi Moi (Renovation) period, we still do not have that law. This is the most important form of direct democracy. The most important issues of the nation must be offered for referendum. The majority opinion of the people must be seen as the will of the people and the country, which the National Assembly must accept and pass because that is the will of the people.

The people must be maximally informed of the activities of the National Assembly, or, by extension, the operation of the political system, including the Communist Party, the National Assembly, and the judiciary system, in which a live broadcast through television, radio and Internet of the sessions of the National Assembly, especially the question and answer session, is very important.

The draft documents of the 12th National Party Congress have emphasized the need to continue to improve the socialist law-governed State. To achieve that goal, what is the center of the perfection of the legal system and law enforcement, as many people commented that there are too many problems in building and enforcing the law? (Nguyen Van Luyen, 46, Hanoi).

Mr. Nguyen Minh Phong: Actually, there are many problems and inadequacies in the formulation and implementation of the law, in connection with Vietnam’s specific transformation context and Vietnam’s international integration process and particularly the complex situation of the world.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong (left).

Like any other country, the perfection and quality of legislation is extremely important in orientation, adjustment, promotion and management of the comprehensive development of the country in terms of economics, politics, society and foreign relations.

The biggest focus in the improvement and enforcement of the law is to continue perfecting the Constitution, including Constitution 2013, while reflecting and legalizing the Constitution through the complete, synchronized, specific and advanced legal system; in which we need more laws, completed laws which can be implemented in life very quickly, while decrees and circulars must be issued quickly. And they must not distort or even narrow the contents of the laws and must not go contrary to the laws and the Constitution.

The number and content of decrees and circulars should be reduced while the law and the Constitution must be expanded and more comprehensive. All laws must have higher legal nature, absolutely united and not be dominated by any individual will and oral commands.

Moreover, we need to have assignment and control of all three powers: Legislative, Executive and Judicial. In particular, it is important to clarify the responsibilities, duties, powers, legal framework and necessary sanctions for each individual and organization in the State management system.

In the process, it is necessary to implement well the collection of critics, evaluation and assessment of the both sides of impacts caused by the law and policies of the State, which were and will be issued; and identify and adjust insufficiencies, gaps, and loopholes in the regulations in order to minimize the negative impact of the law and the abuse of loopholes in the legal system.

Another very important point is to widely disseminate to ensure proper awareness, clear understanding of the provisions of the law; and minimize the arbitrary interpretation of the law in many ways in order to seek profit or to benefit groups and individuals.

To enforce the law strictly and effectively, it is necessary to implement certain decentralization and independence for judicial activities; and ensure that the procuracy and the court to operate only under the law. Any individual is not permitted to stand outside, stand on, and give the order to the law.

Mr. Vu Mao: After the 6th National Party Congress, we have discussed much about building the State of law. It is a good thing, which shows that our leaders have tried to learn the comprehension of the state of law. The draft documents of the upcoming National Party Congress have addressed the issue of building the state of law but it is not deep, lacking connotation.

At present, we still lack many laws. The current number of laws just meets approximately 50% of the required legislation. In particular: there are more than 300 laws while countries in the world have 1,500-2,000 laws. It means that we have to positively build new laws. More importantly, the majority of laws in Vietnam are framework laws, therefore, to apply them in life, we have to wait for decrees and circulars issued by ministries.

The draft documents have not clarified these deficiencies and have not shown practical solutions and they should be supplemented.

Human training is considered the decisive factor. Do you think that this factor has taken an adequate role in the draft documents or not? What are the criteria of the new man we need to build for the country in the coming period? And what is the vanguard role of party members in the building of the new man? (Le Van Nam, 36, Cau Giay District, Hanoi).

Mr. Vu Mao: Building the new man has been mentioned in the draft Political Report, but it is not very bold. We need to make clear the contents and criteria for building the new man. In my opinion, the criteria must be very specific so each person, when looking at them, can see what they can do and should do, as below:

1. Patriotism should be expressed in action. Specifically, to keep learning and striving to become useful citizens in the society, wholeheartedly devoted to the nation from the smallest act.

2. Always train and cultivate themselves to become good people; enhance the sense of responsibility for work, for the community, and help the poor, and especially, not be insensible.

3. Say no to corruption: the higher positions one assumes, the more exemplary they must be.

4. Live in a cultured way.

The vanguard role of party members in the building of the new man: live examplarily, say no to corruption. I emphasize no-corruption because most of them are people with authority; struggle with the wrong, oppose sectarian and group-interest spirit.

How are the responsibilities of members of the Central Party Committee in the upcoming Congress, particularly in reporting the problems of real life to the Congress? (Pham Kim Dung, 59, Ca Mau Province).

Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong: members of the Central Party Committee are members of the Central Executive Board who represent more than three million Party members throughout the country. Moreover, they also have the mission of the electoral colleges of the 90 million people of Vietnam in making major policies and in the selection of the country’s leaders, solving big issues of the country.

However, it seems that the responsibilities of the members of the Central Party Committee are still not clear and their responsiblity in the National Assembly. Their role is mainly shown through their specific positions in ministries and agencies. Some people even consider the membership of the Central Party Committee as the launching pad for their personal promotion.

Therefore, most members of the Central Party Committee seem to not be interested in reflecting the opinions and aspirations, the enthusiasm and annoyance of party members and cadres to the Party and central agencies. In the future, there should be complementarity in terms of awareness, in both regulations and actual operations of members of the Central Party Committee at the Party meetings to better promote the role, competencies, and responsibilities and powers of each member.

Mr. Vu Mao: The responsibilities of members of the Central Party Committee have been stipulated in the documents of the Party, especially in the regulations of the Party Central Committee. Most of the Central Party Committee members are experienced people who are capable and ave gained high credibility. They are also people who work hard, with dedication to the country. That is in general and principle, theory. In the current conditions, when we operate under the market mechanism, it is not simple at all. This requires Central Party Committee members to further train themselves, to stay away from individualism and corruption.

It is a very short time from now the 12th National Party Congress, when Central Party Committee members will have to discuss many important issues, particularly personnel. So the responsibility of each member is to understand people's heart, meaning that they have to resolutely eliminate the elements of corruption, poor ethics, opportunism and those belonging to interest groups. Therefore, Central Party Committee members have very high responsibility in this Congress. People are waiting for them to wisely prepare strategic personnel of the Party and the country.

What will the Party do to take the country out of poverty, to enter a new stage of development? (My Hoa, Kien Giang).

Mr. Vu Mao: Thirty years of Renovation was an arduous but also glorious journey. I think the first stage of innovation was very strong and brought about results. Therefore the people were inspired and they strongly believed in the leadership of the Party.

Now, on the road to the 12th National Party Congress, we must create an atmosphere of innovation, at least at the same level with that day and with the contents at a higher level. The slogan at that time was Renovation or Die. The value of this slogan remains today.

Some said that the proposed criteria to select the talents are actually just to choose virtuous ones (not making mistake) who are loyal to Marxism-Leninism and the Party. All the set criteria are not the ones with talent. What do you think about this idea? (Minh Duong, Hanoi).

Mr. Vu Mao: Actually, virtue and talent are always intertwined and they are difficult to be separated from each other. The above idea is not clear and not very standard and perhaps it is the opinion of a few people.

Most others say that leaders must have both virtue and talent, and at present there are not many people with both virtue and talent. In fact, some officials at all levels lack both virtue and talent. Corruption is rampant; buying positions is fairly common, but it is very dangerous that not many such cases are detected. Aspirations and demands of the majority are to immediately redress these deficiencies.

Talent is a process of training and learning, which requires humility. It is dangerous that the communists are arrogant. The market mechanism is necessary, but we must be vigilant. If the number of corrupt officials is high, the trust of the people of the Party will fall. This is an alarming problem.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong: There are many interpretations of talent and virtue. People may have talent in political leadership, in business, and in professional knowledge. Yet the common ground that get high consensus is the understanding of talent as the ability to understand and effectively solve emerging issues in leadership and expertise.

As for virtue, it should be understood as those who know how to harmonize things, even sacrifice their interests for others, for society in a dignified manner. People with virtue are also the ones who are interested in, take care for and realize their interests in the common interests of the society, community, and family.

In particular, those with virtue are upright people, who are industrious, economic and incorruptible, public spirited and selfless, always look toward the value of the true, the good and the beautiful, for the happiness of mankind and of his compatriots.

Moreover, people with virtue are not those struggling for fame, blocking others, speaking one way and acting another, time-serving and finding any way for promoting the self for selfish personal goals.

In that spirit, the loyalty to Marxism - Leninism, to the Party is one of the important criteria of political leaders in our country. It is completely wrong to understand that virftue is not making mistakes. Awareness and capability must be trained in reality, even after making a lot of mistakes and failure.

In the coming time, it is important to clarify the criteria for Virtue and Talent for each group of officials, works, and different activities; in which we should not equate talent of leadership and management with professional, scientific talent and other talent. Also, we should not equate morality with "avoiding" tasks or not doing anything to not make mistakes.

Virtue and Talent must also be public and recognized by the community.

How can we choose qualified people who can assume the great responsibilities in the upcoming period? (Pham Trong Tuyen, 59, Dien Bien Province)

Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong: This is a good question, which meets the common aspirations of the majority of party members, cadres and people.

Admittedly, the personnel task of the Party has been implemented with a lot of innovations recently, in the direction of standardization, process and publication. However, the choice of people who are capable of assuming the great responsibility for the Party seems to not satisfy the great aspiration of the people, party members and not satisfy the higher requirements in the new period.

Therefore in the coming time, the selection of qualified people to shoulder the responsibility of the Party should be perfected by grouping and standardization of the criteria and the process of selection, training, training and promotion of officials at all levels, especially the distinction between party leaders, political leaders, government leaders and heads of specialized units and operations. In fact, a good doctor is not necessarily a good health minister and vice-versa.

It is needed to refer to experience in election and selection of officials and leaders of the Party and the State from other countries, especially experience in direct democracy, recruitment through examinations and public dialogue.

Moreover, it should enhance supervision requirements and resolutely dismiss unqualified officials, and extend the range of candidates for leadership positions to those who are not Party members.

It should be emphasized that a party member who has good morals but is too weak in capacity, and the use of his power is not controlled, the negative consequences of his leadership may not be mild.

Why we have not effectively fought corruption? (Nguyen Ngoc Lan, 39, Hue City).

Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong: First of all, we have to assert that corruption is not a temporary and particular phenomenon, which cannot be destroyed by will and determination or saying; or entrusted to a few individuals and organizations to do so

Apart from other reasons, corruption in Vietnam is also a consequence of the limitations and shortcomings in the legal system, the mode of leadership, direction and management mechanisms of the State, as well as association with transitional characteristics from the planned economy and centralized bureaucracy to market mechanisms.

Moreover, corruption is encouraged by "self-movement" in political awareness and moral alienation and is the expression of the downward impact of the market mechanism that is being developed in our country.

In particular, corruption has not yet been fully identified in both manifestations and implications, as well as not solved by real political will and consensus in implementing the measures needed. Moreover, the fight against corruption has not been carried out independently of those with the risk of corruption.

Besides, corruption is still tolerated by friendship, complaisance, overlapping, complex relationships between people against corruption and corrupt persons. The mechanisms to protect people and anti-corruption institutions are inadequate and ineffective in ensuring the safety of those individuals and organizations against corruption.

Therefore, the fight against corruption needs to be re-considered and reorganized in both the legal system, apparatus and manpower. Furthermore, it is necessary to raise personal responsibility.

The Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong warned Party members and officials, first of all members of the Central Party Committee, from avoiding falling into the "marsh of bad selfish individualism". How to avoid that marsh? (Nguyen Trung Kien, Son La Province)

Mr. Vu Mao: It is clear that the Party Secretary General spoke the truth. This is an abnormal phenomenon. Individualism is overwhelming; virtue of leaders is seriously degrading, and that is very alarming. It is important that our Party must overcome these evil things.

Resolution 4 highlighted the serious nature and set out the guidelines to solve these problems, but the outcome was not much. This demonstrates that Resolution 4 has not come to life. We must find the cause to overcome, as follow:

1. The policy is issued, but the implementation is poor.

2. Lack a reasonable and effective mechanism. We established the Central Anti-Corruption Steering Committee, chaired by the Party. It shows great determination. But we forgot one thing, in the State of law, the anti-corruption apparatus must be approved and supervised by the National Assembly.

3. The anti-corruption law is weak and inadequate. The core of the fight against corruption is the declaration of assets, while this task is still formalism in Vietnam so that we cannot find the corrupt. I propose to perfect the anti-corruption law and issue the law on declaration of assets.

It is a healthy thing in a democratic society, the existence of different opinions, even in opposition to the Party. As the only ruling force, how should the Communist Party of Vietnam deal with these opinions? (Nguyen Anh Tuan, Hanoi)

Mr. Vu Mao: In a democratic and progressive society, it is necessary to have many different opinions to contribute to nation-building. Our Party should encourage such deeds. To be honest, in 30 years of innovation, listening to the opinions of officials, Party members and people we made certain progress but it was still insufficient.

Lenin and Ho Chi Minh said that the most dangerous disease of the leaders is communist arrogance.

Previously, our predecessors relied on, and listened to the people to build the glorious revolutionary cause. Today, the Party is the leader of the country and the society, actually the leadership is in the hands of those with the highest power. Therefore, the phenomenon of dictatorship can happen.

We have no opposition party so our Party has set out to have social criticism. But this policy has not turned into reality because there is no mechanism and law for it. It is very important that the leaders must listen to and analyze opinions to follow the right things and to have feedback for the others.

What is the responsibility of the organization committees of the party at all levels, especially the Central Organizing Committee in choosing, recommending personnel for the key? (Le Nam Thanh, Khanh Hoa Province).

Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong: These committees, especially the Central Organizing Committee, has the task and big responsibility in choosing and introducing candidates for leadership positions at all levels. If the qualification of the people - the products they choose to recommend to the poor, the consequences would be serious.

In reality, many agencies are only interested in following the "right procedures", not in the quality of candidates. In particular, we lack provisions on joint responsibility between the leaders of the personnel recommending agencies and the quality of the personnel they introduce.

Personnel is a big issue of the 12th National Party Congress, which attracts the great attention of Vietnamese people. This time we cannot perform direct election of the Party Secretary General but what would be the right time for the Party to implement this democratic progress? (Nguyen Minh Hoa, Hanoi).

Mr. Vu Mao: One of the democratic issues inside the Party is real democracy in choosing officials, especially senior officials. In other countries, officials are selected through fierce elections.

In Vietnam, running for election took place in the past, specifically at the mid-year session of the 8th National Assembly, when two candidates ran for the Chairmanship of the Council of Ministers. This was a special phenomenon, a parliamentary milestone. The event was highly appreciated by the people and the international community. At that time the Soviet Union and the socialist countries in Eastern Europe launched the innovation policy (perestroika), but that policy failed economically and politically.

In our country, the economy prospered, while politics was very cautious, so running for the Chairmanship of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) was a very special, memorable phenomenon. I think we must study the lessons of this experience to implement in the new period.

This is a question for Dr Nguyen Minh Phong. The Party and mass organizations are not State agencies, but volunteer social and political organizations. So is it reasonable as these organizations are financed by the state budget? (Nguyen Le Dan, Hanoi)

Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong: The political system of Vietnam is a whole body, including the Party, the State and mass organizations and social-political organizations, as prescribed by law.

Due to the nature of Vietnam, as well as prescribed by the current law, in addition to the state apparatus, the party and many political - social organizations and other organizations are being funded by the state budget at different levels to fulfill the common goal of building a strong, democratic and civilized country. This feature has been and will continue to put pressure on the State budget.

Therefore, in the future, one of the tasks set out in management of the state budget is budget savings, more effective spending, partly based on the downsizing of the management apparatus at all levels, strengthening the financial autonomy of several associations and unions, as well as enhancing socialization of some public services which are being carried out by the political system.

To Mr. Vu Mao, I fully agree with the recruitment of officials through examinations of the Ministry of Transport and Quang Ninh provincial authorities. Why isn’t the task which is welcomed and supported by the society to recruit young, talented people with virtue and enthusiasm through fair competition to important positions to devote to the Party and the country applied widely in all ministries and localities? (Pham Khoang, 71, Thai Binh Province).

Mr. Vu Mao: The method of recruitment of officials used by the Ministry of Transport and Quang Ninh province is a good sign. It shows the innovative thinking of leaders of the Ministry of Transport and Quang Ninh province.

I think the leaders the Party and State should have assigned relevant bodies to research, review and widely apply this method. Apparently the leaders are too busy with other work so they are not yet interested in this issue, but in fact, this is very important.

To Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong: For a nation, leadership is one of the most important factors determining the destiny of the nation, so to choose the talent we need to have a mechanism of democratic elections, in which direct democracy is the most important, because people are never wrong in assessing officials. So I would like to ask Dr. Phong about the way to promote direct democracy in elections after the 12th National Party Congress. Thank you! (Le Van Huong, 21, Long An Province)

Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong: The road to democratization of political life - economy - society is a long and open process.

In our country to strengthen direct democracy, in the future we need to increase measures: expanding the range of subjects for direct election, nomination, recommendation; strengthening critical activities, access to information, supervision and accountability; opening hotlines, direct dialogue, enabling people and businesses, as well as party members to listen and respond to the aspirations and proposals of people; and strengthening the implementation of confidence votes and dismissal of officials who fail to meet the requirements although their term has not expired yet.

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