Source: Vietnam NEWS FEBRUARY 26, 2002

Politburo member calls for law on grassroots rights

HA NOI — The regulations on democratic rights at grassroots level should be further strengthened
with the backing of a law, according to Politburo member Truong Quang Duoc.
Duoc, who is also chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Mass Mobilisation Commission, told
Nhan Dan newspaper on Monday that the need for a new law followed the marked improvement in
people-to-people relationships in both social and business life over the last three years.
Duoc said village-level officials’ sense of responsibility towards the citizenry had increased, which had
in turn encouraged local people to get more deeply involved in building their own communities by
contributing money and labour to new infrastructure projects in their villages.
Likewise, the business environment at companies and workshops had become more productive and
harmonious as the ties between employers and employees had improved.
Duoc said the regulation on democratic rights was first issued by the Politburo in 1998 in the form of a
directive, later reinforced with a National Assembly resolution and a Government decree.
The effect was to broaden the people’s autonomy in running their own communities.
It also strengthened the participatory role of mass organisations in governing their local
administrations, so as to minimise the danger that local officials might abuse their authority.
The rules created a framework within which communities could find ways to exercise their democratic
rights and gain a greater say over their own affairs.
Communities were encouraged to make “inventories” of the administrative tasks their area had not yet
completed.
The underlying principle was that local people know what is in their best interests, and should be
involved in discussions, planning, execution and review of major decisions.
Duoc said that up to 90 per cent of grass-roots administrative units – including villages, urban wards
and district townships – had developed their own set of regulations to ensure people’s democratic
rights were strictly observed.
But in many cases, only about 60-70 per cent of the “inventory” was carried out.
Duoc said 90 per cent of the village, hamlet and family chiefs were now directly chosen by the local
people.
Meanwhile greater efforts had been made to make local accounts public, including all expenditure and
the collections of administrative fees.
Across the country, tens of thousands of arbitration teams had been set up to promptly solve disputes
without recourse to the court system, he said.
This had helped slash the number of complaints, particularly those which did not follow the usual
chain of authority but went straight to the higher echelons.
The end results were very encouraging, Duoc said. People were willing to contribute their labour, plus
hundreds of billions of dong, to build community infrastructure projects.
Their inspection work had also helped prevent embezzlement.
Meanwhile, he said, more than 80 per cent of administrative offices had devised their own regulations,
which were made in accordance with the newly issued ordinance on public servants.
The regulations had improved work practices, management, the use of electricity and telephones,
recruitment, personnel training and promotion.
Other improvements related to administrative procedures such as the allotment of land-use rights, land
leasing, housing construction permits and business registrations.
Duoc said up to 67 per cent of businesses had managed to organise their annual employer-employee
conferences in 2000 and 2001 to review past performance and discuss annual business plans.
Previously, a disregard for democratic rights had prevented these conferences from occurring, which
sometimes caused serious division among the staff, and between staff and management.
Meanwhile, great attention is being paid to public opinion in the formation of Party and State policies.
Popular input was extensively canvassed last year during the drafting of policy
documents for the Ninth National Party Congress and the amendments to the
1992 Constitution. — VNS