VietNamNet Bridge - President Truong Tan Sang has said that he and the other deputies of the 13th National Assembly will work until the last minute of the working term, affirming that they will not put off tasks for the 14th National Assembly term.

President Truong Tan Sang (first right) meets voters

Sang, at the last meeting with voters in district 1, HCM City on December 5, said he would make every effort to fulfill his duties, though there is not much working time left.

He committed to take full advantage of the time left and focus on dealing with the problems and complaints of the people.

Embezzlement hot topic

Nguyen Thanh Cuong, a voter in Tan Dinh Ward, spoke about the commitments on fighting embezzlement, commenting that the results of the struggle were not satisfactory. 

Nguyen Minh Hoan from the same ward said high ranking officials’ assets should be publicised to help fight embezzlement over the next five to 10 years. 

Hoan believes that Vietnam should from learn other countries’ experience on exposing assets of officials before candidacy to ensure transparency.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Hoai Nam spoke about the ineffective supervision of the business performance of state-owned economic groups and general corporations. 

The conglomerates, from power to oil & gas to mining, all have been using the state’s big resources, but have been not performing well, with low profits and big debts.

Answering the voters, Sang admitted that embezzlement remains very serious. Embezzlement is a topic of great interest of the Communist Party and people, the theme of discussion at all conferences and meetings, especially as the 12th Communist Party Congress nears.

Believing that great efforts have been made to strengthen anti-corruption, the President thinks the results are below expectations. The opinions on anti-corruption at the party congresses at different levels will be collected and put into discussions at the 13th Communist Party’s National Congress.

“I see that people keep complaining about corruption. A lot of work has been done to struggle with corruption, but it has not been recognized. We know we still have not fulfilled our task of fighting against corruption,” Sang said.

“This is bad news that Vietnam ranks at a very low position in the results in fighting corruption. Vietnam is well known over the world as a heroic nation in combating invaders, but not in combating corruption. It is unacceptable,” he said.

The president called on every citizen and voter to come forward and point out the shortcomings in their locality so that the problems can be fixed.

National Assembly 

Nguyen Trung Dung from Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward noted he was not satisfied about the answers given by the government’s members at the last National Assembly session, because they were ‘not to the point’.

“Ministers made a lot of promises. But what we care about is whether they can do the promised work,” he said. “Voters want to know if ministers would resign from their posts if they cannot do their work well.”

Dung went on to say that the 12th Communist Party Congress needs to find personnel with a good intellect, morality and talent, because personnel quality will determine the vitality of the Communist Party and the regime.

Responding to voters, Sang admitted that more shortcomings had been revealed in state management in many different fields, and that there were too many problems in all fields.

He said it was necessary to improve the management mechanism, or it will cause further problems.  

While Vietnam has gained great achievements over the last 30 years of doi moi (renovation), it is now facing a rapid increase in public debt, mismanagement and big problems in economy, culture and social affairs.

He thinks that if people cannot do their jobs, though they have tried their best, they should reconsider internal factors. “The base of the lamp is the darkest area,” he said.

Xuan Linh