Streamlining Vietnam’s state apparatus is one of the top priorities of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam. This will be a test for Lam for the Party internally, especially when the institutional reform is facing many deadlocks.
This is a difficult task, because it will affect the interests of many people, many powerful groups and incumbent officials. Surely many officials in the government apparatus will not be satisfied with these changes.
The reason General Secretary Lam has to urgently carry out the reform of the apparatus is because his political position within the Party is not really stable. The fact that Lam could not keep the position of State President, as a result of the reaction from the military faction, proves that.
That is why he also called on leaders to be ready to sacrifice personal interests for the common interests of the country, especially those directly affected. Because when merging 2 ministries, of course there will be a surplus of ministers, deputy ministers, department directors… Those who are enjoying benefits certainly do not want that.
According to experts, most Vietnamese officials today climb to high positions in the political system, entirely by bribes and friendly relationships, not by professional capacity. Therefore, it is natural that Lam faces opposition from a large number of officials and party members who have lost their rights in the process of streamlining the political apparatus.
Therefore, this “streamlining of the apparatus” may fail with rearranging officials from one agency to positions in other agencies.
However, the goal of completing the streamlining policy in the first quarter of 2025 is considered an unrealistic ambition of the head of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
The results of this effort will depend entirely on the determination and implementation methods of General Secretary Lam and his staff. If the efforts to streamline the apparatus of the political system do not achieve the expected results, Lam’s political future will certainly face many challenges.
If the results are not achieved as expected, Lam may have to face criticism from individuals and rival factions. That will undermine his reputation and position, and will affect his ability to continue as General Secretary at the 14th Party Congress.
In addition, failure to achieve this goal could create opportunities for other factions to increase their influence within the Party, especially in the context of large-scale rearrangement of senior personnel as it is now.
At the same time, failure to streamline the apparatus could also increase opposition from the majority of the people – those who expect a more effective and transparent political system, as committed by General Secretary Lam.
Such major failures, if they occur, could put Mr. To Lam in a difficult position, not excluding the possibility that he will be “pushed aside” and forced to make way for another figure with the capacity to implement more drastic and effective reforms.
Surely the Beijing leadership will not miss this “golden” opportunity to influence the restructuring of high-level personnel at the 14th National Congress, which will take place in early 2016.
The period from now until the 14th Party Natipna; Congress will be a challenging time for Lam. Let’s wait and see!
Tra My – Thoibao.de
