In our everyday life, people and businesses all have face-to-face contact with the State’s administrative apparatus represented by Government officials. In the process, many officials have done a good job. However, quite a few of them have abused their positions and power to harass people and businesses, creating problems for them. Their authoritarian behaviour has wasted people and businesses’ time and money and caused social concerns. More important is that their professional ethics are non-existent, making the national administration less effective and reducing people’s trust. The late President Ho Chi Minh said that Government officials had to be servants of the people. He said officials must be industrious, thrifty, incorruptible, public spirited and selfless. But in fact, the authoritarian attitude of some officials have damaged the public’s trust and they no longer deserve to be the people’s servants.

The public has complained very much about the working attitude of some Government officials. Almost everyone of us has had trouble fulfilling any basic administrative procedure. The following example will show this dogmatic working style. Recently, a couple went to their ward’s marriage bureau in Hanoi for marriage lines. The young man presented the certificate from his locality of origin showing his state of marriage as single. However, the ward official insisted he write “never married before” instead of single. The official asked him to go back to his location of origin in a central province which was more than 700km south of Hanoi to have the certificate corrected. Luckily, the case was discovered and adjusted in time.

In other cases, people have had to spend a lot of money accelerating the administrative procedures for the implementation of a policy which could benefit them. For example, to accelerate customs clearance, businesses have to pay an extra fee to customs officials although they have the correct papers. To get a business licence quickly, some businesses have to give officials money under the table to accelerate the procedures.

These “lubricants” can buy positions and titles. After having a title, an official has more power and can abuse his position to make illegal money. The Minister of the Interior has acknowledged that the current public services are not strictly controlled enough which has led to negative practices by some officials and reduced the efficiency of administrative agencies.

That is why the draft Law on Government officials and public employees, which is being discussed at the current session of the National Assembly, has attracted great public attention. Vietnam is further integrating in the world and its legal system has also been completed to meet the public’s needs in this process. The public in general and businesses in particular all hope for the law to be developed so that that Government officials are limited to doing their job only and the public and businesses can do anything that is legal. The draft Law on Government officials and public employees is expected to be a legal tool which will build a clean, efficient and effective administration.

However, to implement President Ho’s teachings that they must be the people’s servants, Government officials would adopt an attitude commensurate with moral and social norms. In other words, they would be all smiles while performing their duties.