“Don’t know” syndrome

Countless phenomena and incidents have occurred. First of all, we must mention the construction sector in urban and rural areas. Houses without permits, without designs, built on public land, agricultural land, divided into plots for sale, increased height without permission... Massive houses and constructions can be seen by everyone, but local authorities and those responsible for management seem to be... "blindfolded".

VTV has reported many times that since the Government ordered the closure of natural forests, forests in some Central Highlands provinces continue to be "exploited" and severely cut down. There have been many cases of illegal loggers bringing vehicles into forests not far from government headquarters and ranger stations to cut down trees, saw them, and transport them, but the ranger and government still "don't know anything"? There are places where sand-sucking boats are noisily pumping sand day and night on the river without permission, but the government and functional forces still "don't know", even though people have prevented them and reported them to local authorities. Many similar cases have occurred not only in a few places but in many localities across the country, but those responsible still repeat the refrain... "don't know"!

Things happen loudly in the agency, but the organization and the leader seem not to see, not to hear, not to know. There are many obvious cases, the responsible person must know or may have known, but when public opinion is noisy, the story breaks out, the local leader still tacitly answers the press "don't know". Before each incident, when officials answer "don't know", people don't know whether they are telling the truth or lying, don't believe what is the truth, what is shirking responsibility, what is negative. People look at some officials with unsympathetic, distrustful eyes.

Saying that does not mean that officials can say whatever they want, and that they are irresponsible to the people and the field they are assigned to manage. The competent authority must have a solution to force officials with the "don't know" syndrome to not be able to deny responsibility. There are two possible cases. When they say "don't know", it means that they have admitted their incompetence, lack of insight, and bureaucracy. If so, they are no longer worthy of the position they are holding, should they be allowed to keep that seat? A transparent civil service, respecting discipline, the law of the land, and promoting accountability, needs to eliminate the "don't know" syndrome. In addition, it is necessary to see if there is anything shady, intentionally covering up violations, or intentionally ignoring them for personal gain. Falling into this category is quite sensitive and is likely to account for a high percentage of countless answers, but it is very difficult to prove violations. The trick of saying you don’t know is just a way to avoid responsibility, avoid discipline or avoid the crime of “irresponsibility” when the law touches it. Because people just pretend they don’t know to wash their hands clean, hide their cover-up or take advantage of such deals to profit from them.

Both cases mentioned are negative, no matter how they are justified! This situation occurs in many places and becomes an unacceptable syndrome and disease. If it is allowed to persist in the civil service, it will undermine the people's trust and the Party's trust in the leadership, especially at the grassroots level. But more importantly, it will corrupt officials just because they only know how to lie, be dishonest, and be negative in performing their duties. Even worse, they will take advantage of loopholes to assist in violations of the law, transforming themselves into backers and protectors of violations.

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