General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee and State President Tô Lâm. VNA/VNS photo of Lâm Khánh

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee and State President Tô Lâm has written an article, highlighting the fight against wastefulness.

The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) respectfully introduces the translation of the article.

COMBATING WASTEFULNESS

TÔ LÂM

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee

President of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam

1. Throughout all stages of the revolution, our Party and State have always paid special attention to wastefulness prevention and control by issuing a lot of resolutions, directives, and conclusions on this issue, and leading the entire political system and the whole nation to implement them to achieve significant results. In light of the need to increase resources and mobilise the people's strength to lead the country into a new era under the Party's leadership, the wastefulness prevention and combat work now faces urgent and new requirements and tasks. 

When he was alive, President Hồ Chí Minh always placed emphasis on preventing and fighting wastefulness. He warned that "Embezzlement, wastefulness, and bureaucracy are the enemy of the people, the army, and the Government"; He pointed out that "Embezzlement is harmful, but wastefulness can sometimes be even more harmful: It is more harmful than embezzlement because wastefulness is very prevalent"; "Although wastefulness does not take public property for personal gain, its consequences are very harmful to the people and the Government. Sometimes it can be more damaging than embezzlement"; He repeatedly stressed: "We must treasure public property: Everything you eat, wear, and use comes from the sweat and tears of our compatriots. We must be thrifty, preserve it, and not waste it"; "Embezzlement, wastefulness, and bureaucracy are a kind of 'enemy inside everyone'. If soldiers and the people strive to fight foreign invaders but forget to combat the internal enemy, they have yet to fulfil their duties. Therefore, soldiers and the people must actively participate in this movement." Not only did President Hồ Chí Minh regularly remind, and discuss thrift and wastefulness combat from a theoretical perspective, but he also served as an exemplary model in practising thrift and fighting wastefulness. He inspired the entire Party, people, and army to emulate, mobilise, and converge their potential and strength to defeat colonialists and imperialists, liberate the nation, and reunify the country.

Since the implementation of the renewal process, the Party Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat in various terms have issued numerous directives, resolutions, and conclusions regarding wastefulness prevention and control. On August 21, 2006, the third session of the 10th Party Central Committee adopted Resolution No. 04-NQ/TW on strengthening the Party's leadership over corruption and wastefulness prevention and control. On May 25, 2012, the 11th Party Central Committee issued Conclusion No. 21-KL/TW on continuing to implement the Resolution of the third session of the 10th Party Central Committee. On December 21, 2012, the Secretariat issued Directive No. 21-CT/TW on promoting thrift practice and wastefulness combat. On December 25, 2023, the Politburo issued Directive No. 27-CT/TW on strengthening the Party's leadership over thrift practice and wastefulness combat. The Document of the 13th National Party Congress clearly states: “The corruption and wastefulness prevention and combat work has not seen significant changes yet... The detection and settlement of corruption and wastefulness remain limited...Corruption and wastefulness...remain serious and complicated, and become increasingly sophisticated, causing public concern”. To institutionalise the Party's guidelines, the Standing Committee of the 10th National Assembly issued the 1998 Ordinance on Thrift Practice and Wastefulness Combat; the National Assembly passed the Law on Thrift Practice and Wastefulness Combat in 2005 and again in 2013. The 2013 Constitution stipulates that “Agencies, organisations, and individuals must practise thrift, combat wastefulness, and prevent and fight corruption in socio-economic activities and state management”.

Implementing the resolutions, directives, and conclusions of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Constitution, and legal regulations, Party Committees and administrations at all levels, agencies, sectors and organisations from the central to local levels have defined their responsibilities in directing and organising the implementation of wastefulness prevention and control tasks more clearly. The effectiveness and efficiency of state management, exploitation and use of the country's resources have been improved. The state budget has been strictly controlled from the stage of planning to implementing estimates and settlement; the procurement, equipment, management, and use of assets, vehicles, and equipment in agencies and organisations using the budget have complied with prescribed norms, standards, and regulations; the management of investment projects using state capital and assets has seen positive changes. The rearrangement and handling of state-owned houses and land have been carried out; the management and use of state capital and assets in enterprises, and public awareness of thrift practice in both production and consumption have also seen many significant changes. The results of practising thrift and combating wastefulness have contributed to bringing the renewal cause to great achievements; fulfilling and exceeding most socio-economic development targets and goals over the terms, even in the context of unprecedented challenges such as epidemics and natural disasters; and mobilising, managing and effectively using human, material, and financial resources to ensure national defence, security, foreign affairs, and social security and welfare of the country.

Besides the outcomes, wastefulness remains widespread in various forms, causing serious consequences for development. This includes depleting human and financial resources, reducing production efficiency, raising cost burdens, exhausting resources, and widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Moreover, wastefulness has eroded public trust in the Party and State, creating invisible barriers to socio-economic development and causing the country to miss development opportunities. Some forms of wastefulness have become particularly severe, such as the inadequate quality of law building and perfection, which fails to meet the practical requirements of the renewal process, thus hindering the implementation work, and causing the loss and waste of resources. Bureaucratic administrative procedures and inefficient online public services are also wasting the time and efforts of businesses and individuals. Development opportunities at both local and national levels have been squandered due to inefficient operations in the state apparatus somewhere, sometime, a contingent of officials exhibiting harassment, incompetence, task avoidance, and a fear of responsibility; and low labour quality and productivity. Natural resources have been wasted; and public assets have been squandered due to poor management and ineffective use, particularly in public investment disbursement; equitisation and divestment of state-owned enterprise; the rearrangement and handling of state-owned houses and land, as well as projects that consume large amounts of land and water resources; and the implementation of national target programmes and credit packages for social welfare development have seen sluggish progress. Wastefulness in production and business activities, and consumption of the people has also been occurring in various forms.

Beyond the specific causes of various forms of wastefulness, the enforcement of resolutions, directives, and legal documents on wastefulness prevention and combat has shown shortcomings; some standards, norms, and regulations have yet to match the reality, but the amendment and supplement remain sluggish; wastefulness handling has not been heightened and it is often associated with the settlement of corruption as a consequence. There has been no widespread movement on thrift practice and wastefulness combat, nor strong public opinion to criticise and condemn behaviours that cause wastefulness. The building of thrift and anti-wastefulness culture in society has not received due attention.

2. We are standing in front of a historic opportunity to bring the country into a new era of national advancement. This is also the time to shape our future. To seize this opportunity, push back challenges, and strongly increase resources for taking care of the people and enriching the country in the new revolutionary phase, and build a bright future, the wastefulness prevention and combat work must be carried out drastically and concertedly with effective solutions to create widespread impact, turning it into a voluntary and self-conscious practice among officials, party members and people, and a cultural behaviour in the new era; with attention paid to the following key solutions:

First, it is essential to recognise that wastefulness prevention and control are a challenging and complicated fight against the "internal enemy" which forms part of the class struggle and holds a position of equal importance to the fight against corruption and other negative phenomena to build a strong Party that embodies "morality and civilisation". Efforts must focus on widespread education and raising awareness and responsibility among officials, party members, and labourers, firstly setting examples of leaders in every agency and organisation, and individual in both the public and private sectors, of the significance of practising thrift and combating wastefulness. Thrift practice and wastefulness combat must be clearly reflected through concrete commitments and plans, with the leadership, specific targets, and regular, thorough implementation. Practical campaigns and movements on promoting thrift practice and wastefulness combat should be developed and carried out, creating a vibrant and widespread emulation spirit in the entire Party, people, and army. It is necessary to promptly commend, reward and multiply typical models in practising thrift and combating wastefulness.

Second, a focus must be placed on improving and effectively implementing wastefulness prevention and control regulations; strictly dealing with individuals and collectives who have behaviours or acts that cause losses or waste of public assets. It is a must to issue specific Party regulations to identify wasteful practices in the performance of duties by officials and Party members; and clearly define the roles and responsibilities of Party Committees and organisations, administrations, and heads of agencies, organisations and units in wastefulness prevention and control; and build and implement a national strategy for wastefulness prevention and control. Legal regulations for thrift practice and wastefulness combat must be further revised to ensure full, synchronic legal grounds for supervision, inspection, detection, and stringent punishment of wasteful acts with a strong deterrent effect; effective mechanisms should be established for the supervision and detection of wastefulness by the Việt Nam Fatherland Front, mass organisations, and the people. Efforts to uncover and strictly deal with major violations causing great losses to public assets must be intensified, following the spirit of "resolving one case to serve as a warning to the entire region and sector."

Third, a focus must be placed on thoroughly addressing the causes of wastefulness in public assets, natural resources, and resources reserved for the welfare of the people and national development. The focuses are to: (i) Strongly innovate the work of building, perfecting and enforcing laws, considering it a crucial factor to prevent and combat wastefulness. In this regard, the law building must stem from reality, learn from experience while doing, avoid perfectionism and impatience, centre around the people and businesses as the main actors, promptly remove difficulties and obstacles, unlock resources, solve and rectify bottlenecks, expand space and create momentum for development; Regularly evaluate the effectiveness and quality of policies after their issuance to promptly adjust shortcomings and contradictions, minimising waste and loss of resources; Review and supplement regulations on management mechanisms and economic-technical norms that are no longer suitable to the country's development reality; Perfect regulations on handling wasteful behaviours, regulations on the management and use of public assets, institutional frameworks on the application of information technology and digital transformation to create coherence in the transition to minimise waste. (ii) Make radical reforms to minimise administrative procedures, compliance costs for the people and businesses, combat bureaucracy. (iii) Effectively utilise resources, human and material resources, enhance sustainability, optimise work processes, improve energy use efficiency; Resolve long-standing issues related to key national projects, low-efficiency projects causing significant waste and loss, weak commercial banks; Soon complete the equitisation, improve the operational efficiency of state-owned enterprises; Summarise and multiply the experiences gained from the implementation of the 500KV circuit-3 Quảng Trạch (Quảng Bình) - Phố Nối (Hưng Yên) power transmission line project to shorten the implementation time of key national projects, highways, key works, inter-regional projects, and projects with widespread impact. (iv) Focus on building and streamlining the organisational apparatus of the Party, National Assembly, Government, Fatherland Front, and socio-political organisations for effective and efficient operations; develop a contingent of officials, especially the heads, at all levels with adequate quality, capacity and prestige that are commensurate with their tasks in the new conditions; Have specific solutions to increase labour productivity, enhance the value of Vietnamese labour in the new phase.

Fourth, build a culture of wastefulness prevention and control, make the thrift practice and wastefulness combat a “self-conscious”, “voluntary” and “daily norm akin to eating, drinking and dressing”; Build a culture of thrift practice and wastefulness combat in agencies and organisations, encourage the public to increase thrift practice and wastefulness combat, create a habit of treasuring state assets, efforts of the people, and contributions of both collectives and individuals, consider the thrift practice and wastefulness combat as a daily task; Take concerted measures to develop a culture and sense of thrift, a scientific work mindset and efficient time management, and form a sense of social ethical responsibility linked to strict performance of disciplines and rules.

V.I. Lenin once said "We must practise the utmost thrift within our state apparatus. We must eliminate all traces of wastefulness that monarchical Russia and its capitalist bureaucratic apparatus have left behind in abundance”. Our beloved President Hồ Chí Minh stressed: “To advance toward socialism, we must rectify shortcomings, which means we must increase production, practise thrift, combat wastefulness, and protect public property”. To steadily lead the country to socialism and successfully achieve the 100-year strategic goals under the Party’s leadership and celebrate the 100th founding anniversary of the nation, we must be determined to prevent and combat wastefulness in combination with preventing and combating corruption and negative phenomena. VNA/VNS