VietNamNet Bridge - Voters hope that the 12th Communist Party National Congress can select the best candidates to the Communist Party’s leadership as Vietnam integrates more deeply into the world, and as the East Sea dispute and major international problems continue.

At a meeting between voters and the HCM City delegation of National Assembly’s Deputies headed by President Truong Tan Sang on December 5, Ho Quang Chinh, a voter, commented that the selection of the Communist Party’s leadership will determine the existence and vitality of the Party.

“The Communist Party Congress and National Assembly elections have very important significance, not only for the next working terms, but for the next years as well. I propose to select the good cadres who can lead the country in the context of global integration, the complicated East Sea dispute and internal problems,” Chinh said.

Voters have raised a lot of questions about the fight against corruption which has been a hot topic at many discussions. In principle, the heads have to take responsibility for the corruption, but who are the ‘heads’?

“Do the ‘heads’ admit their mistakes and accept to step down? No one has resigned from posts. They only said they will ‘learn from experience,” Chinh said.

“The laws of the land and the rules have been ignored, from common people to high ranking officials. Who is to blame and who will take responsibility?” he said.

Le Thanh Tung, a voter in Ward 7, commented that embezzlement was difficult to uncover because it was conducted in a sophisticated way.

However, Tung noted, only achievements and good things were mentioned at the Party congresses at the grassroots level, while embezzlement and authoritarian conduct were not. This would lead to people losing their confidence in the Party and the State.

Le Thanh Tung, a voter in Ward 7

Commenting on the issue, President Truong Tan Sang said the problem lies in the unreasonable propaganda which has led to misunderstanding that the Party Congress only talks about successes.

Regarding the voters’ comments that agency heads do not step down and only promise to ‘learn from experience’, Sang said this is a ‘valuable comment’ because it is true. 

He said he ‘felt ashamed when hearing this’.

However, Sang spoke about decentralized management, saying that some things are determined by central agencies, while others by local authorities.

It is unreasonable to ask ministers or central government management agencies to take responsibility for smaller problems such as pesticide residue. The decentralization  clearly points out what agencies do and their responsibilities.

The President called on people and voters to point out the shortcomings committed by those who hold responsibility entrusted by the people, and promote democracy by posing more demands to the National Assembly deputies and management agencies, and ask them to behave correctly within their power for overall efficiency.

China’s occupation of Vietnamese islands

At the meeting, Chinh raised questions related to the assessment in Party Congress documents about Vietnam’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, mentioning China’s behaviors of occupying Hoang Sa Archipelago, the islands of Truong Sa and the militarization activities on the occupied islands.

Sang emphasized Vietnam’s persistent attitude of not recognizing Chinese occupation of the Vietnamese islands.

“China occupied the islands by force. Vietnam will never acknowledge this occupation by force," he said.

The president repeated that Vietnam has submitted documents on the continental shelf boundary to the United Nations so as to define its outer borders.

Le Van Can, a voter, showed his dissatisfaction about the absence of National Assembly deputies at working sessions where the National Assembly puts bills to a ballot. 

“Twenty percent of deputies were absent when the National Assembly voted on the state budget plan. That is unacceptable,” he said.

Some voters commented that the time reserved for Q&A was not long enough, while government’s members gave long answers. They said that at least three or four days should be reserved for Q&A sessions.

Xuan Linh