Vietnam is a country in peacetime, but the senior leaders in the “Four Pillars” have up to 3 people who are police and military generals. At the same time, the lack of well-trained technocratic senior officials will significantly affect economic development.
According to analysts, the police and military generals in Vietnam today do not have much technocratic ability, because they are not trained to govern the country. That will create a gap between the Vietnamese leadership and politicians of Western democratic countries.
Under late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the “sword and shield” force was an important support for the Communist Party of Vietnam. However, his excessive attention to the police force has made military officials and generals unhappy.
The demand for a balance of power between the police and the military is an urgent need. Military generals are even said to want the military to play a central role in the Vietnamese political system. The fact that former head the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People’s Army, General Luong Cuong, became the new State President is a significant victory for the military faction.
There are opinions that, taking advantage of the victory, the military faction is showing a tendency to hold leadership positions in the local government system, particularly two position the party’s secretary and the chairpersons of the People’s Committees of provinces and cities. This opinion is based on the fact that recently, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Doan Anh, one of the three generals who were just promoted by General Secretary To Lam before stepping down as State President, has become the new Secretary of the Thanh Hoa provincial Party Committee.
This is the first time that a military general, who was just promoted to the rank of General after 5 days, has been transferred to lead the provincial government. The public is wondering whether General Nguyen Doan Anh will receive the salary of the position of provincial party secretary, or the rank of seneral, or both?
The use of military generals as provincial leaders, as in the case of Gen. Nguyen Doan Anh, has made people think of the issue of unstable security. As in the Republic of Vietnam, the government appointed a series of generals and officers in the role of provincial or district governor.
In the current state management apparatus, high-ranking leaders of the police are holding the positions of secretary and chairman of provinces and cities across the country in large numbers. This is one of the reasons why the number of Central Committee members and Politburo members with a police background always overwhelms other sectors, as well as the military.
Up to now, due to being too inferior to the police, the military has just woken up, and it is speculated that they will play the same card in the future. The military will begin to deploy to occupy this front, not only at the provincial and municipal levels, but also at the central ministries and branches. In the future, more military generals will appear in the state apparatus.
If the speculation is true, then that will make the problem of “arming” the government apparatus worse than before. It is worth mentioning that military generals who are not trained in knowledge and state management skills will have a very difficult time in their new jobs.
Moreover, the command style of military officials will be very different from the leadership style of civilian officials. From there, there will arise arbitrariness and dictatorship of the type “Only action, no discussion” as Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said when talking about the North-South High-speed Railway project.
Vietnam has been lacking in technocratic leaders in its state leadership apparatus, and now a new trend has emerged, which is the leadership of military generals.
This will make foreign investors suspicious and question the stability of Vietnam’s politics. That is a disadvantage.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
