To Lam: Leaders Cannot Urge Officials to Stay Close to People While Relying Only on Reports

Vietnamese leader To Lam said officials cannot demand that lower-level cadres stay close to the people while leaders themselves know local conditions only through reports.

Speaking on Sept. 3 at a conference on studying and implementing Politburo resolutions and directives, To Lam said the meeting should open a decisive phase focused on implementation. Studying resolutions, he said, cannot become a formal exercise followed by the simple issuance of a plan.

He called on party committees, agencies, localities and individual party members to identify specific tasks, responsible people, authority, resources, deadlines, expected results and accountability. The value of political education, he said, should be measured by its ability to solve practical problems and produce changes that people can feel.

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Studying resolutions cannot be treated as a formality, where issuing a plan afterward means the work is complete.

To Lam urged authorities to clarify the problems requiring action, guide social understanding and turn the study of Ho Chi Minh’s example into regular practice. He also called for stronger links among regional development, tourism and work involving Vietnamese citizens abroad.

He said institutions must come first by clarifying authority, ensuring resources and managing risks. Delegation of power must include personnel, funding, data, technology and oversight. Officials willing to act for the common good should receive protection during pilot projects and reforms, he said, but protection must not mean exemption from responsibility.

Citing Ho Chi Minh’s saying, “One part plan, ten parts measures, twenty parts determination,” To Lam said the six documents under discussion already set out policies and goals. The decisive issue, he said, was turning each document into concrete work with an accountable person and results that could be verified, ultimately making the country stronger and improving people’s lives.

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One part plan, ten parts measures, twenty parts determination.