VNNews March 6

Source: Vietnam News March 6, 2002
Cadres told to understand, advance

democratic rights
HA NOI — Party officials should obtain a deeper understanding of people’s democratic rights
in order to successfully promote them at the grassroots level, General Secretary Nong Duc
Manh said on Monday.
The Party itself should set an example in observing democratic rights and demonstrate firm
leadership in the process, he told a conference organised by the Party Central Committee’s
Secretariat to review the implementation of the Politburo’s Directive on building and
executing a regulation on grassroots democracy.
Manh hoped the participants would work to obtain the bare truth about social, economic and
political effectiveness in carrying out the directive, so that better measures could be devised
to achieve its targets.
The directive aims at realising the intent of resolutions adopted at various national party
congresses as well as the Party’s wish to have people know, discuss, execute and inspect
public affairs and other issues in line with Party orientations and State policies, he said.
Party officials should understand that the main difference between the democracy that Viet
Nam was striving to build and some other democracies was that it belongs to the majority,
targets social equity and fights oppression and injustice.
Democracy meant equality in pursuing one’s human rights and happiness within a country.
Manh quoted President Ho Chi Minh in saying that cause was lost if the nation’s leaders
made the citizens of their country lead a backward and unhappy life while maintaining that
the Party’s intention to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty, and gradually improve living
conditions in Viet Nam was a specific way to promote democracy.
Democracy not only has a common human value but also bears the trait of a nation’s history,
traditions, its various nationalities and of time. Therefore no country has the right to impose
its conception and content of democracy upon another.
“We are absolutely against attempts and schemes to make use of ‘democracy’ and ‘human
rights’ signboards as well as ethnic and religious issues to interfere into our internal affairs,”
Manh said.
Even though the implementation of the grassroots democratic rights was a breakthrough in
the entire process of promoting socialist democracy in a new stage of development, many
things remained to be done for ensuring that the regulation worked well.
The Party leader said great efforts must be exerted in fighting the abuse of power by some
cadres and public employees to indulge in wastefulness and corruption.
Complementing the Party rectification campaign
The promotion of democratic rights should go hand in hand with the ongoing Party
rectification and Party building drives, administrative reform and the fight against corruption,
wastefulness and red tapism, Manh said.
He said the immediate task should be to use the results obtained over the last four years in
observing democratic rights at grassroots level for ensuring that the upcoming general
elections to the 11th National Assembly are held properly.
Observance of democratic rights should also mean strict observance of law and maintenance
of order, he said.
It is not just the man on the street, but also officials, Party members and public employees
who must strictly observe laws, Manh stressed.
“We cannot accept insubordination and the repeated claim that ‘the King’s laws are inferior to
the village’s customs’,” Manh said.
He called for the fight against arbitrariness and autocracy within the Party organisation to be
stepped up.
Observance of democratic rights in the Party’s work should go alongside improvements in the
self criticism and criticism campaign among Party members and cadres, he said.
“This is the best way to prevent and push back the situation of political, ideological and
ethical degeneration in the Party and make it purer and stronger,” Manh said.
He said the executive boards of Party organisations and administrations at each localities
were responsible for strictly and efficiently implementing the regulation on grassroots
democratic rights.
The Viet Nam Fatherland Front and other mass organisations are the fora where the voice of
the people can be heard, making recommendations about Party and State activities.
Warmer atmosphere felt

Manh said the recently concluded fifth plenum of the Party Central Committee has issued
some important resolutions of which the one on renovating the political system at the village,
inner city wards and district townships stood out as a key factor to promote grassroots
democratic rights regulation.
The conference heard a report delivered by Politburo member and chairman of both the Party
CC’s Mass Mobilisation Commission and the Steering Committee on Implementing
Democratic Rights Regulation, Truong Quang Duoc.
The report said that the Politburo directive has been carried out at administrative units, public
services and State-owned enterprises.
The regulation had been introduced in 90 per cent of all the villages, wards and districts in the
country, and in more than 80 per cent of public offices and State-owned enterprises, the report
said.
Implementation of the regulation has created a more democratic and frank atmosphere in
society, encouraging people to be more confident and motivating them to make greater
financial and labour contributions to building up their own communities, particularly in
infrastructure projects, it said.
The work ethic in public offices has improved and local officials have formed closer and
more respectful relationships with the people and their subordinates, the report said.

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Source: Vietnam News March 6, 2002

Cadres told to understand, advance

Complementing the Party rectification campaign

Warmer atmosphere felt

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