The National Assembly held a plenary session to vote on the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens and the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam and discussed the draft Law on Forces Participating in Protecting Security and Order at the Grassroots Level, on June 24, 2023. (Source: VNA)

From the consistent policy of the Party

Ensuring security and order at the grassroots level is a consistent policy, under the direct leadership of the Party, and is the cause of the entire Party, the entire people and the entire army. In addition to the issue of ensuring national security, ensuring social safety and security and improving people's lives; ensuring a peaceful and happy life for the people are also new points emphasized in the general goals of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress1. Accordingly, it can be seen that national security and people's safety are two sides of the same issue, an important and strategic task of the entire political system in our country in the process of implementing the Party's resolutions. The next new point in the perception of the 13th Party Congress is the attention paid to social security and human security. Solving the close relationship between these two issues will contribute significantly to ensuring national security.

Therefore, promoting the role of the people's mass forces in participating in protecting security and order at the grassroots level is not only an urgent task, but also a long-term one. It can be affirmed that the people have become a very important force, even indispensable, in the process of "building a position of people's hearts in protecting security and order at the grassroots level" through the leading, mobilizing and engaging role of the regular police force combined with the militia force and the "village elders and village chiefs". People are the root, the eyes and ears, so the Party's revolutionary cause always aims at the goal of being for the people and by the people.

Because the people, that is, local people need to “get involved”, residential communities need to have enough capacity to “self-defend, self-manage, self-adjust” against natural disasters, enemies, in solving problems of order and security (both traditional and non-traditional) at the grassroots level depending on the level and requirements. Uncle Ho said “It is a hundred times easier to endure without the people, a thousand times harder to complete with the people”, “Revolution is the cause of the masses”… Our Party also carries out the democratic mechanism at the grassroots level with the desire to enhance the position of local communities according to the rules: People know, People discuss, People do, People inspect, People benefit. These rules, if applied well, can effectively support the protection of security and order at the grassroots level.

Continuing to concretize the above policy, General To Lam - Minister of Public Security said that this is the goal of building an orderly, disciplined, and safe society, where all people enjoy happiness and peace, no one is threatened, no one is affected in their right to freedom of residence, living, working, and economic development. And, to achieve such a goal, it is necessary to gather, mobilize, and unite the people; bring the Party's policies and guidelines, the State's policies and laws, economic, cultural, social, defense, and security programs into life, contributing to building social consensus and successfully implementing the Party's guidelines.

To implement specific actions

Recently, the regular police force has been strengthened at the grassroots level to be closer to the people and to handle security and order issues early and from the root. Up to now, 100% of the regular communal police have been deployed in all areas nationwide and have gradually created positive and strong changes in the task of ensuring security and order, bringing a peaceful life to rural areas, highlands and remote islands. Together with the local government system, this force has also actively contributed to building and consolidating the "people's hearts and minds position". In addition to this force, the militia force is also being consolidated, restructured and continuing to maintain the movement of the entire people participating in protecting security and order at the grassroots level.

The force participating in protecting security and order at the grassroots level coordinated with the Police of Ward 9, Tuy Hoa City, Phu Yen Province to patrol, control, and ensure security and order in the locality. (Source: Phu Yen Police)

The main function and task of the force participating in protecting security and order at the grassroots level is to build a self-governing force for security and order at the grassroots level and participate in building a movement for the entire people to protect national security. Ultimately, the above functions and tasks are also aimed at ensuring national defense and security at the local level, so it is necessary to build a people's security foundation and a people's security posture. Performing the above functions and tasks well means mobilizing the participation of the entire political system and the whole society, not simply the forces directly and indirectly participating in protecting security and order at the grassroots level.

It is necessary to have a more correct perception of the security space at the grassroots level, which is very diverse, complex and unpredictable. On that basis, accurately, correctly, fully and closely identify to elevate the functions and tasks of the force implementing this mission in a more rigorous, comprehensive, larger and inclusive direction, regulating social behavior at a broad level with connectivity and cohesion, not just the administrative force while the people stand outside. Therefore, in addition to the regular police force and grassroots militia, strengthening the people's hearts is the important thing to do instead of having to strengthen other forces.

Promoting the role of the People and the movement to protect national security, which is being implemented very well by the Ministry of Public Security and localities, requires close coordination mechanisms to promote the effectiveness and efficiency of laws and policies, ensuring consistency in implementing tasks to protect security and order at the grassroots level. For example, leaving people hungry, and lacking fairness in the implementation of people's rights and between communities in the same area, easily creates loopholes for bad guys to incite and take advantage of. Meanwhile, solving these emerging practical problems is not simply the task of a single sector, but must have an inter-sectoral coordination mechanism and put the goal of serving the people first.

Therefore, in order to mobilize people to participate in protecting security and order at the grassroots level, it is necessary to flexibly apply legal regulations and have solutions to stabilize people's lives, not leaving anyone behind, and satisfactorily resolve social relations related to disputes of interests between residential communities in the area. In order to make people believe in the Party and the Party rely on the people, it is also necessary to strengthen and promote "the right to direct mastery and the role of self-management of the People"; respect, ensure and protect "the rights and obligations of citizens" along with "strengthening democracy at the grassroots level" in the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress2 and the Law on Implementing Democracy at the Grassroots Level.

Continue to institutionalize the task of protecting security and order at the grassroots level.

The Ministry of Public Security is presiding over the drafting of the Law on Forces Participating in the Protection of Security and Order at the Grassroots Level, which is currently in the process of being finalized after the contributions of the recent 5th National Assembly Session. This is a step of institutionalization and an opportunity to legalize the task of protecting security and order at the grassroots level through strengthening the coordination force with the regular police in communes, wards and towns. Therefore, it is necessary to promulgate this law, especially in the context of security and order at the grassroots level, social evils, crimes, disputes, complaints and conflicts tending to be complicated, taking place at the grassroots level in villages, hamlets, residential groups, and residential communities...

The civil defense team participating in crime prevention and control in Cua Lap hamlet, Duong To commune, Phu Quoc city, Kien Giang province patrols to ensure security and order in the area. (Source: Kien Giang Newspaper)

According to Major General Nguyen Thi Xuan (National Assembly Delegation of Dak Lak Province), legally, this is not a newly established force but in fact, it is an arrangement and reorganization of existing forces, including semi-professional communal police, militia and civil defense. Therefore, this force will act as a bridge, an extension of the regular communal police force in protecting security and order at the grassroots level. In addition, this force is available among the people, has a good understanding of the local situation, is basically trained, coached, and has knowledge of security and order; in which, the semi-professional communal police force has many people trained to the intermediate level of the People's Police, so they have the qualifications and ability to work.

Before the National Assembly, Minister of Public Security To Lam also stated that the law is aimed at institutionalizing the Party's viewpoints and policies on consolidating, arranging, and streamlining internal focal points in conjunction with perfecting the functions, tasks, powers, and working relationships of each grassroots organization; creating a legal basis to ensure the implementation of the provisions of the 2013 Constitution on human rights and civil rights, meeting the requirements of protecting national security, ensuring social order and safety in the new situation. The draft law also aims to build and consolidate the mass movement to protect security, order, and social safety at the grassroots level under the leadership of the Party, the management of the government, and functional forces, in which the People's Public Security plays the core role.

However, as analyzed above, to build a force to participate in protecting security and order at the grassroots level to meet practical requirements, it is necessary to have the proactive and active participation of the people and residential communities at the grassroots level. The local police and militia, as well as agencies under the local government, do not "do it for" or "do it for" the people and local communities, but focus on instructing the police force, arousing the proactive participation and detection of the people and communities related to security and order at the grassroots level.

In addition to the Law on Grassroots Democracy, this is an opportunity to create a legal position for people to better exercise their rights and obligations as citizens in protecting security and order at the grassroots level. For the above reasons, the role of people needs to be legalized in the draft Law on Forces Participating in Protecting Security and Order at the Grassroots Level. A separate chapter can be devoted to “Mobilizing People’s Power in Protecting Security and Order at the Grassroots Level” because the People deserve to be an important force in ensuring and protecting security and order at the grassroots level.

1 Communist Party of Vietnam. Documents of the 13th National Congress of Delegates, volume II, page 94. National Political Publishing House Truth, Hanoi, 2021.

2 Central Theoretical Council. New points in the documents of the 13th National Party Congress. National Political Publishing House Truth, page 102, Hanoi, 2021.

* Permanent Vice President of Vietnam Fisheries Association; Member of the 15th National Assembly.