Don't think red is ripe.

In recent times, it can be seen that the vote of confidence for those holding positions elected or approved by the National Assembly or People's Council has become routine; the results of the vote of confidence are transparent and this method is supported by the people. The vote of confidence has helped evaluate the effectiveness of the performance of the duties and tasks of the person being voted on, and at the same time serves as a basis for personnel work.

According to the report of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the organization and operation of People's Councils of provinces and centrally run cities in 2023, the whole country recorded 10 cases with over 50% of low confidence votes when People's Councils at all levels conducted confidence votes. Of these, one case has been prosecuted and temporarily detained (Chairman of Vinh Phuc Provincial People's Committee Le Duy Thanh); other cases have been and are being handled in different forms: dismissal from office, dismissal from office, transfer to other jobs, or are carrying out procedures and processes to submit to the People's Council for consideration and decision according to legal regulations.

Thus, it can be affirmed that the vote of confidence has brought certain results. Some people who are not prestigious or trustworthy enough have had to "return" their positions. The rule of "some in - some out; some up - some down" has therefore been implemented as a routine. Recalling the time in December 2023, Chairman of Vinh Phuc Provincial People's Committee Le Duy Thanh expressed that "the low confidence result this time is very unusual". Mr. Le Duy Thanh is the first provincial People's Committee Chairman in the country to receive over 50% of low confidence votes (specifically 53.19%). Whether it is "unusual" or not, everything is now clear.

Although it is a good monitoring channel, the vote of confidence clearly cannot "cover" the entire work of reviewing and evaluating cadres. The numbers often do not fully reflect the nature of the problem and also show that the vote of confidence still has some limitations and shortcomings. Let's look back at the results of the vote of confidence in late 2023 in the following cases: Hoang Thi Thuy Lan (Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Council of Vinh Phuc province - 97.87% of high confidence votes); Dang Van Minh (Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province - 92.16% of high confidence votes); or Tran Duc Quan (Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Council of Lam Dong province - 94.7% of high confidence votes)... There are "perfect covers" that make the vote of confidence "powerless", unable to properly evaluate the person holding the position until the Ministry of Public Security issues an announcement. Here, of course, everyone understands that the individual who commits a crime always tends to find ways to cover up his bad intentions, subtly disguising his inner degeneration and corruption.

Up to this point, former Secretary of Vinh Phuc Provincial Party Committee Hoang Thi Thuy Lan; Chairman of Vinh Phuc Provincial People's Committee Le Duy Thanh; Chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee Dang Van Minh have all been prosecuted in the Phuc Son Group Company case. In which, the Ministry of Public Security determined that the two defendants Hoang Thi Thuy Lan and Le Duy Thanh received relatively large bribes, billions of VND... Former Secretary of Lam Dong Provincial Party Committee Tran Duc Quan was prosecuted for abusing his position and power to violate the provisions of the law when participating in directing the settlement of work related to the Dai Ninh Project in Lam Dong province, causing very serious consequences.

When “something happens”, there is an opinion that we should review the votes, votes of confidence and raise the issue of the responsibility of the votes. The responsibility of the votes is correct, but not enough, because taking votes of confidence is not only complicated and sensitive but also timely and, after all, this is just a channel to serve the review and evaluation of cadres. Evaluating cadres requires a comprehensive view, based on the work and specific actions of individuals, based on work efficiency, based on ethics, lifestyle... In short, it is a comprehensive evaluation based on both words and actions. As President Ho Chi Minh once reminded: “Words must go hand in hand with actions”, that is, demonstrating the unity between words and actions, between theory and practice, between moral awareness and moral behavior that each cadre and party member needs to deeply perceive and practice regularly, every day in work and life.

There is a foreign proverb: “Not all that glitters is gold”. General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong also always pays attention when referring to personnel work: “Personnel work is human work, extremely important but also extremely difficult, complicated, sensitive, requiring us to be very impartial, objective, transparent, especially having a discerning eye, do not ‘see chicken as crow’, do not ‘see red as ripe’, do not just see ‘the outer appearance, it covers up the rough inside’, sometimes ‘green on the outside but red on the inside’”.

Cadre work is the key of the key, related to the survival of the Party, the fate of the regime and the development and strength of the country. Currently, our Party is gradually preparing personnel for the 14th Congress, which requires a team of strategic-level cadres to be truly steadfast, with enough courage, qualities, intelligence and high prestige to handle strategic-level tasks. But in this work, it is also necessary to be clear-headed and alert, because as mentioned, it is not certain that "high trust" can create "high prestige". Allowing "highly trusted" people under such "perfect cover" to enter leadership positions will ultimately be a disaster for the Party, creating conditions for them to harm the country and people even more.