Let's keep it historic

One year ago today, where were we and what were we doing? The answer is so simple: one year ago, everything was normal, we were still where we were, doing what we have been doing for many years.

But today is different. Different from what I thought would never be different: different birthplace, different hometown; the commune and ward where I live also have different names. Before working in the city and province, now I am working in a place dozens or hundreds of kilometers away. Before I was the district party secretary, now I am the ward secretary. Before I was a civil servant of commune A, now I am a civil servant of the new commune where communes A, B and C were merged…

Few of us can imagine that in such a short time, from 63 provinces and cities, there will now be 34; the district level will be completely eliminated with 696 districts, towns, and provincial cities; from more than 10,500 communes, wards, and towns, there will now be only 3,321 communes, wards, and special zones. If we compare it with the merger of administrative units from many to few in countries around the world , it can be seen that it is difficult for any country to do it on the scale that we have just done.

Can Tho City. Photo: Nguyen Hue

The revolution of streamlined, effective and efficient organization is like a new wave full of vitality flooding into every corner of social life, eliminating many organizational shortcomings that have been discussed countless times but the basic outcome remains the same; creating many big changes, more precisely, creating extremely big changes in the political system.

The official inauguration of the two-level local government in our country marked a historic moment in the country's development. Looking back at the country's development, it can be seen that there are not many such historic moments.

July 1010 was a historic moment for the nation with the move of the capital from Hoa Lu to Dai La, later changed to Thang Long. This is said to be a historic moment because as Ly Thai To's Proclamation on the Transfer of the Capital clearly stated: moving the capital was to "plan a great cause, to make a plan for future generations" . Moving the capital was a big and difficult task, and if done successfully, it would create momentum and strength for the country to develop faster and better, thereby creating blessings for future generations.

April 30, 1975 was also a historic moment that brought about the unification of the country, ending many years of division and creating momentum for the whole country to follow the same development direction, bringing about the socio-economic development results as today.

Two things to admire

Mentioning these historical moments helps to visualize the scale and significance of the day the two-level local government officially came into operation. The rearrangement of administrative units this time is like a part of rearranging the country. And the country is like a chessboard, the person holding the chessboard must calculate, must arrange the chess pieces to serve the long-term purpose for the overall national interest. Arrange the chess pieces reasonably, make bold moves, go beyond the scope to advance to the final victory.

In this chess game, in this rearrangement of the country, there are two things that make me admire.

One is to admire the person in charge of the game. Without strategic vision, courage and decisiveness, this kind of arrangement would not have been possible. Never before has the country had such a large-scale change in administrative units.

Second, my personal admiration for the cadres, civil servants, public employees and other workers who remain in the apparatus and are struggling during this arrangement.

To be honest, there are people in this team who are having concerns. Not to mention officials and civil servants with leadership positions who no longer have positions, but only counting ordinary people who were civil servants in the district and are now civil servants in the ward or commune.

There is also the matter of going to work. Tens of thousands of people across the country are like provincial civil servants in Quang Nam, Quang Tri, Kon Tum… now having to move somehow, change their place of residence to go to Da Nang, Quang Binh and Quang Ngai… to work. Difficult and hard with the story of travel, accommodation, children’s education… while salaries are limited.

Some people say, well, if you can't stand it, then please leave the system. Life is not that simple. Once you enter the government system, it is like a career, a profession, and most people want to stick with it for life.

Having such thoughts, facing many difficulties but still finding a way out to be present at the office from July 1st to perform public duties as usual is truly extraordinary. And it is the compliance and obedience of the working team that once again makes society understand more about the public servants in our country.

Creating a historic moment for the country is already an extremely difficult task, having to overcome countless obstacles, but perhaps the more difficult thing is to keep it right, to keep it in the long run so that this is still the historic moment of the country. This historic moment will last forever with the country.

Imagine that after moving the capital from Hoa Lu to Dai La in 1010 and then the Ly dynasty did not last 216 years but declined very quickly after 20-30 years, would the moment of moving the capital that year be considered a historical moment? The number 216 years compared to 175 years of the Tran dynasty and 143 years of the Nguyen dynasty later shows somewhat the difference.

Coming back to the arrangement of administrative units this time, what do we expect? For many years, there have been 63 provinces and cities, but the provinces and cities have balanced their budgets and contributed to the central budget, but the number is still around 15-18, never reaching 20. Now, with 34 provinces and cities, there will certainly be a big change in this number.

Rearranging the country without making great strides in development, the rearrangement will no longer have much meaning. In 15 or 20 years, when the country develops, 34 provinces and cities and 3,321 communes and wards will have developed their development space thanks to the rearrangement of the country and Vietnam will rise to become a powerful and prosperous nation, then that will prove that the story of the historic moment of 2025 is completely valuable, truly maintaining its historical role on the path of development of the country.

Let's hope and expect miracles to come to the country from this historic moment.

Vietnamnet.v

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/hay-giu-dung-la-thoi-khac-lich-su-2416389.html