Although tabled over the past several years, Vietnam’s administrative system remains too authoritative, rigid, sluggish and complex along with the attitude or habit of “keeping a distance with people as far as possible”, “bothering people” in many state officials and civil servants.

The major cause given is that the civil servant employment mechanism is not clear and transparent enough, so there remain a lot of “fertile land” for this habit. Normally, punishments are only handed down against state wrongdoers rather than against slow, rigid and ineffective state doers.

However, provinces and cities uniformly have recently applied new measures aimed at selecting, assessing and supervising state officials and civil servants more effectively.

The HCM City People’s Council has worked with HCM City Television to hold the “people question city leaders on the television” programme very successfully. Issues that people are concerning about are healthcare, education, bridges and roads, administrative reforms and so forth were answered very clearly with specific commitments by leaders of the HCM City People’s Committee and authorised departments.
Long An southern Province is preparing to apply the “test acting as leaders before appointment” model. After the selection, candidates who have enough capacity and reach basic standards will be appointed to the leadership of departments and units of Long An and jobs suitable with their title will be given to those to see how they can do or not before they are officially appointed to take helm.

At a central level, the Ministry of Resource and Environment is assessed as the pioneer in “listening to people” by holding online talks with people. In the whole online talking day, all complaints and proposals for the state management on land, water, mineral, environment resources and so forth are mostly answered satisfactorily by leaders of this ministry.

The three aforementioned ways of doing all have brought the good results: the more the surveillance of people is publicised, the more exact the assessment of capability of civil servants is and boosting the responsibility of those civil servants. Is that a good suggestion from the practice to consider changing the selection and employment of state leaders into the competitive examination model?

Hai Quan Newspaper 19/3/2006