National Assembly deputies press the button to vote to approve the Resolution on the arrangement of provincial-level administrative units in 2025, at the 9th Session of the 15th National Assembly, June 12, 2025_Photo: quochoi.vn
The need to streamline the apparatus in the new era, the era of national growth
Streamlining the apparatus is the process of arranging and organizing the apparatus in conjunction with restructuring and improving the quality of the contingent of cadres, civil servants and public employees, to better meet the requirements of socio-economic development and international integration in the new era, the era of national development. Although the country's position and strength are increasingly consolidated and enhanced, the organization and apparatus of the political system are still overlapping and ineffective, requiring "resolutely implementing the revolution to build a truly streamlined political system that operates effectively and efficiently, meeting the requirements and tasks in the new revolutionary period" (1) , as General Secretary To Lam affirmed.
Our Party and State have issued many resolutions and conclusions to lead the implementation of the policy of innovation and reorganization of the political system. The Politburo issued Resolution No. 39-NQ/TW, dated April 17, 2015, "On streamlining the payroll and restructuring the contingent of cadres, civil servants and public employees", with the goal of streamlining at least 10% of the payroll by 2021. The 12th Party Central Committee issued Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW, dated October 25, 2017, "Some issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently". The 13th Party Central Committee issued Conclusion No. 121-KL/TW, dated January 24, 2025, summarizing Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW. The Politburo and the Secretariat issued Conclusion No. 126-KL/TW, dated February 14, 2025, "On some contents and tasks of continuing to arrange and streamline the organizational apparatus of the political system in 2025" and Conclusion No. 127-KL/TW, dated February 28, 2025, "On implementing research and proposing to continue to arrange the organizational apparatus of the political system"... These are major orientations to arrange the organizational apparatus of our country's political system "streamlined - compact - strong - efficient - effective - effective".
President Ho Chi Minh once advised: "Whatever is beneficial to the people must be done with all our might, whatever is harmful to the people must be avoided with all our might" (2) . He emphasized that "Cadres are the root of all work" (3) and promoted the fight against corruption, waste, and bureaucracy to build a clean apparatus. Thoroughly imbued with his ideology, our Party and State always put the interests of the people above all else, taking the satisfaction and trust of the people as a measure of the effectiveness of the political system. The arrangement and streamlining of the apparatus not only aims to improve the effectiveness of management and administration but also aims to build a socialist rule-of-law state of the people, by the people, for the people, where all decisions and actions of the government originate from the interests of the people, ensuring the people's real mastery. This spirit is inherited in Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW of the Party Central Committee, demonstrated through the merger of organizations, reduction of staff, and focus on the quality of staff.
In the article “Straight - compact - strong - effective - efficient - effective”, General Secretary To Lam emphasized: “Building an effective and efficient organizational apparatus is a difficult and complicated task, requiring solidarity, unity, courage, and sacrifice of each cadre and party member, along with the high determination of the entire Party, the entire political system, first of all the heads of Party committees, authorities, the Fatherland Front and organizations at all levels, all for a Vietnam with rich people, strong country, fairness, democracy, civilization, soon standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers” (4) .
In recent times, the process of implementing the arrangement and streamlining of the organizational apparatus has achieved many positive results. The country has reduced 5 ministries and 3 agencies under the Government, now there are 17 ministries and ministerial-level agencies. The internal organizations of ministries and ministerial-level agencies have also been significantly streamlined: 13/13 general departments and equivalents were reduced (100%); 519 departments and equivalents were reduced (77.6%); 219 departments and equivalents were reduced (54.1%); 3,303 branches and equivalents were reduced (91.7%). For localities, 63 provinces and cities have reduced 343 specialized agencies and equivalents under the provincial People's Committees (29%), along with 1,454 specialized agencies under the district People's Committees (17.5%). The number of public service units of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, agencies under the Government as well as local authorities has decreased significantly.
Currently, the Politburo and the Secretariat are directing the reorganization of provincial-level administrative units, the reorganization of commune-level administrative units, and the construction of a two-level local government organization model, ensuring the requirements and development trends in the new era. Accordingly, 52/63 provincial-level administrative units are reorganized (11 provincial-level administrative units are not reorganized); about 9,996/10,035 commune-level administrative units are subject to reorganization.
The process of streamlining the political system has been carefully, cautiously and scientifically studied and carried out by Party committees at all levels, ensuring continuity and smoothness. However, with the urgent time and large workload, difficulties are inevitable. The local, conservative thinking and fear of change of a number of cadres and civil servants have somewhat hindered the streamlining process. There are still some problems in resolving policies and regimes for cadres, civil servants and public employees subject to streamlining. Overlapping and duplication in functions and tasks between some agencies and units have not been thoroughly handled. The number of deputy cadres in some agencies from the central to local levels has temporarily increased compared to regulations. Digital transformation in management and operation also requires a strong change in the thinking and capacity of cadres and civil servants, creating additional pressure during the process of streamlining. Along with that is the sabotage of hostile and reactionary forces, taking advantage of the situation to distort, incite internal divisions and undermine people's trust in the Party's leadership.
Sophisticated tricks and sabotage tactics of hostile forces
With many sophisticated and dangerous tricks, hostile, reactionary and political opportunists have been constantly attacking the Party's ideological foundation, the process of streamlining the apparatus, causing internal division and undermining the great national unity bloc.
Firstly, hostile forces take advantage of the internet, social media, such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok... to spread fake information, false information, cut and paste, distort statements of Party and State leaders, in order to cause misunderstanding among the people. Many fake accounts, disguised media channels share and post false information with high frequency, continuously, creating effects, attracting the participation of the online community, causing public confusion. Articles and videos often make false arguments, such as: streamlining the apparatus is "group interest", streamlining the payroll is "violating the rights of workers", or rearranging the apparatus organization is to "change the color" of our country's current political system (?!).
Second , inciting discontent among cadres and party members, especially taking advantage of cases of cadres and civil servants being downsized or disciplined; distorting the effectiveness of streamlining the apparatus.
Third, hostile forces focus on exploiting and exaggerating difficulties in the process of streamlining the apparatus, such as: Shortage of personnel in the administrative apparatus; difficulties in reassigning and arranging work for those who are being streamlined; the lives of some cadres and civil servants after being streamlined encounter many difficulties; streamlining the apparatus is "weakening the political system" (?!).
Fourth , hostile forces take advantage of the issue of merging administrative units to incite localism, create a mentality of antagonism towards the government, plot to break the great national unity bloc, and create division in the political system and in the community.
Fifth , hostile forces attack the role and leadership capacity of the Party and the effectiveness and efficiency of State management, claiming that streamlining the apparatus is a manifestation of "weakness in management and operation of the Party and State" (?!).
Sixth, hostile forces seek to infiltrate party and government organizations to entice and bribe cadres and party members. They take advantage of internal conflicts to incite and divide; entice disaffected cadres and party members to join organizations not recognized by law; incite and support interest groups and opportunists to cause instability in the government apparatus. At the same time, in order to create pressure from the outside, hostile forces take advantage of international media channels to distort the domestic political situation and the streamlining of the apparatus.
The sinister plots and sophisticated tricks of streamlining the apparatus are being vigorously carried out by hostile forces, as a "new campaign" to sabotage our Party and State, especially before and during the process of organizing party congresses at all levels, leading up to the 14th National Party Congress.
Resolving administrative procedures for people in Kon Tum province_Photo: VNA
Solutions to combat and refute distorted arguments about streamlining the apparatus
To improve the effectiveness of the work of streamlining the apparatus, orienting information and refuting the distorted arguments of hostile, reactionary and opportunistic political forces is an important task, requiring the involvement of the entire political system and the active participation of cadres, party members and people, especially focusing on implementing well a number of tasks and solutions:
Firstly, Party committees and authorities at all levels need to proactively provide public and transparent information about the policy of streamlining the apparatus, focusing on widely disseminating the purpose, meaning and content of this campaign to help cadres, party members and people clearly understand the spirit and objectives of the streamlining. Each cadre, party member and citizen needs to equip themselves with and update their knowledge about the policies and guidelines of the Party and State, be alert and selective when receiving information, promote proactiveness and resolutely fight against those who use the name of "criticism" and "democracy" to sabotage the Party, State and people.
Second , strengthen propaganda, education, and raise awareness among cadres, party members, and people about the work of streamlining the apparatus. Propaganda content must closely follow the resolutions and conclusions of the Party, especially Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW and Resolution No. 19-NQ/TW of the 12th Central Executive Committee on streamlining the political system's apparatus to operate effectively and efficiently. Propaganda must be carried out in a variety of information channels such as newspapers, social media, party cell meetings, conferences, seminars, etc., creating high unity in the awareness and action of the whole society.
Third , proactively detect, combat, and promptly refute distorted, incorrect, and hostile arguments about the work of streamlining the apparatus. Press agencies, propaganda and mass mobilization staff, and cyberspace forces need to grasp, analyze, and correctly assess the situation, promptly orient information, clarify the nature of incorrect and reactionary arguments; provide accurate, objective, and timely information to orient public opinion, and strengthen people's trust in the Party's policies.
Fourth , build and promote the role of social opinion collaborators, the core force in propaganda and information orientation work. Increase the opening of training courses, foster skills in identifying, analyzing and refuting bad and toxic information. Grasp public opinion among the people to promptly advise and propose appropriate propaganda solutions. In particular, it is necessary to build a team of social opinion collaborators at all levels with strong political will, the ability to process information quickly and flexibly on social media platforms and official information channels.
Fifth , the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations should promote their role in disseminating and orienting information. Strengthen the organization of forums, seminars, and thematic activities on streamlining the apparatus; create conditions for cadres, party members, and people to contribute ideas and propose solutions to implement the streamlining policy in a practical and effective manner. Along with that, propagate and raise people's awareness to avoid sharing on social media false information, information that has not been verified by authorities, to avoid causing confusion and negative impacts on the community. Handle cases of posting false information according to the law.
Sixth , strengthen inspection and supervision of the implementation of the policy of streamlining the apparatus, promptly detect and handle negative, local, and group-interest manifestations during the implementation process. The implementation must ensure publicity, transparency, and objectivity, avoiding the situation of taking advantage of the streamlining to arrange personnel for personal gain, which undermines people's trust. The authorities must resolutely handle those who take advantage of the apparatus arrangement to cause trouble. Timely detect and strictly handle individuals and organizations that spread false information, causing public confusion about the implementation of the arrangement roadmap. Strongly fight and refute the arguments that distort and defame the Party and State's innovation policy.
Strengthening information orientation, public opinion orientation, and refuting distorted arguments about streamlining the apparatus is an important political task that requires the joint efforts of the entire political system, close coordination between functional agencies, and active participation of cadres, party members, and people. Thereby, it contributes to strengthening people's trust in the Party and State, creating social consensus, and promoting the process of streamlining the apparatus to achieve real results. Each cadre, party member, agency, organization, union, and person needs to be fully aware of the role and significance of the process of streamlining the apparatus, strengthen "self-immunity" against bad and toxic information, proactively refute false arguments, and maintain faith in the leadership of the Party./.
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(1), (4) Professor, Dr. To Lam: "Refined - compact - strong - efficient - effective - efficient", Communist Magazine , No. 1,050 (11-2024), p. 12
(2) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works , National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2011, vol. 4, p. 51
(3) Ho Chi Minh: Complete Works , op. cit., vol. 5, p. 309
Source: https://tapchicongsan.org.vn/web/guest/nghien-cu/-/2018/1094002/nhan-dien-va-phan-bac-cac-luan-dieu-thu-dich-xuyen-tac-ve-cong-cuoc-tinh-gon-bo-may.aspx
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