Officials must be courageous and willing to make sacrifices for the common good.

Dr. Tran Anh Tuan, former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Interior, believes that for the revolution to streamline the administrative apparatus and reduce the workforce to succeed, officials and civil servants must be courageous and willing to make sacrifices for the common good.

Speaking with a reporter from Giao Thong Newspaper, Dr. Tran Anh Tuan, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Administrative Sciences and former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Interior, said that streamlining the administrative apparatus involves people, making it a difficult, sensitive, and complex task requiring the highest level of effort and political determination. In addition, the need to promptly issue policies to support redundant staff after the restructuring, ensuring a balance of interests, is also a necessary challenge.

Dr. Tran Anh Tuan, President of the Vietnam Association of Administrative Sciences , former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Interior.

It was truly a revolution.

Could you please explain why General Secretary To Lam has called for a revolution to streamline the government apparatus at this particular time?

Currently, all the necessary conditions are met to continue implementing Resolution 18 of the Central Committee on streamlining the organizational structure throughout the entire political system.

Resolution 18 has been in effect since 2017, but the restructuring and streamlining of the apparatus has mainly been carried out in the administrative agencies of the Government and localities. In other agencies and organizations, such as Party agencies, the restructuring has also been undertaken, but not extensively.

Therefore, in this phase, in order to meet the requirements of the transition from state management to national governance, to meet the requirements of implementing information technology applications, digital transformation, and digital technology of the fourth industrial revolution; and to ensure the implementation of the policy of combating waste in spending on the administrative apparatus, allocating the savings that can be used for investment and development.

In the current context and conditions, including the context of international integration, we must build a government apparatus at the central and local levels that ensures it operates as General Secretary To Lam stated: "lean, strong, efficient, effective, and effective."

To achieve that, we must streamline the organizational structure, and this streamlining involves continuing to implement Resolution 18 of the Central Committee, deploying it throughout the entire political system.

Therefore, in order to meet the demands of the times, of the country's transition into a new era, an era of striving for development and prosperity, implementing a revolution in streamlining the administrative apparatus at this time is essential and meets the requirements.

Many people are concerned that there will be a reluctance, or even a fear, to implement downsizing in the streamlining of the administrative apparatus . How can we overcome this obstacle?

Streamlining the organizational structure and reducing the workforce is a very difficult, complex, and sensitive task, and it will inevitably affect the interests of individuals and many others.

To overcome obstacles and the tendency to avoid confrontation, we must first have a strong spirit, as General Secretary To Lam said, "we must have strong political determination, unity of thought, and decisive action," and "we must dare to be courageous and willing to sacrifice for the common good."

When evaluating staff, civil servants, and public employees, a fair and objective perspective is necessary to distinguish between those who perform well and those who do not, and those responsible must be accountable for their evaluations.

Only on this basis can policies be implemented for those who do not continue working after downsizing, and at the same time, qualified people can be placed in positions within the new system.

General Secretary To Lam chaired the first meeting of the Central Steering Committee on summarizing the implementation of Resolution No. 18.

There needs to be appropriate policies and regulations for those who are willing to "sacrifice."

So, in this revolution to streamline the administrative apparatus, what policies and regulations do we need for those who are willing to "sacrifice" their positions for the common good?

In this revolution to streamline the organizational structure, we must commit ourselves, accept sacrifices for the common good, and may have to give up our personal interests or suffer some personal losses in order to focus on the common goal of national development.

I have said many times that such sacrifices should be considered a contribution to the development of the country. That contribution must be recognized, and the state must have appropriate policies to partially compensate for those sacrifices and hardships.

Because when people are doing stable jobs and receiving monthly salaries, but now have to move to a different environment or leave their jobs to find another job that suits their abilities, they need to be facilitated in terms of procedures, regulations, and policies, and there should also be compensation to ensure their peace of mind and stability.

One of the tasks emphasized by Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra for implementation this December is to research and propose policies and regulations for officials, civil servants, and public employees following the streamlining of the organizational structure for effective and efficient operation. As someone with experience in this field, what suggestions do you have?

Policy-making bodies are currently implementing the plan. The Central Organization Department, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and other agencies will conduct research to report to competent authorities on the issuance of a policy that is consistent with the country's financial capacity, but also facilitates those who, due to organizational streamlining, have to change positions or leave public service (including those working under contract).

In my opinion, we should also learn from the experience of the past, the years 1990-1992, when implementing restructuring, transitioning to new salaries, and downsizing the workforce, with Resolution 109 of the Council of Ministers dated April 12, 1991, and accompanying Decision 111 dated April 12, 1991, on resolving policies in restructuring and downsizing the workforce.

At that point, we divided them into three groups: those who stayed to work, those who were facilitated to transfer to other jobs, and those who underwent redundancy policies.

As a result, those who moved elsewhere to find new jobs, or those who were laid off or retired early, all had very satisfactory policies in place.

Despite the limited resources and inadequate policies and benefits offered at the time, these conditions provided reassurance and created favorable opportunities for those individuals.

Currently, it is still possible to inherit, refer to, and develop policies such as: early retirement policy; immediate termination policy; transfer policy to public service units; policy on retaining salary and allowances when changing job positions…

Recently, the Ministry of Interior also proposed a regime and policy for officials who are not re-elected or re-appointed to positions and titles for a term in agencies of the Party, State, Vietnam Fatherland Front, and socio-political organizations and retire from their positions. I find this draft to be a relatively suitable initial step in streamlining the apparatus.

Thank you, sir!

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/cach-revolution-tinh-gon-bo-may-can-bo-phai-dung-cam-dam-hy-sacrifice-for-the-common-benefit-19224121323375235.htm