Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau: The current Law on People's Public Security has many shortcomings.

Delegate Nguyen Huu Cau answers the interview. Photo: Diep Anh

- What do you think about the policy that the police force must reduce its apparatus and staff after it has become too large over the past many years?

- As someone who has been in the industry for a long time, I see that implementing Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW of the 6th Central Conference (12th tenure) on "Some issues of continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently" and Resolution No. 22 of the Politburo, Resolution No. 56 of the National Assembly on streamlining the apparatus to operate more effectively and efficiently, it can be said that the Ministry of Public Security is a pioneer in the issue of streamlining the apparatus. Those in the industry say this is an unprecedented revolution.

The Ministry of Public Security previously had 8 general departments, gradually reducing them to 4 general departments. Now the general department level will be abolished and from 126 focal points will be reduced to only 60 focal points, that is, reducing by more than half. While changing the apparatus, reducing all intermediate levels and reducing focal points like that, the functions and tasks of the police force have not changed. Therefore, there are departments that have to take on the tasks of 4-5 departments. There are tasks that were previously assigned to the General Director, but now the Director must shoulder them. Due to such changes in the apparatus towards shortening and streamlining, amending the Law on Public Security is inevitable and must be done soon to stabilize the organization.

- Sir, in the draft revised Law on Public Security, there is a new proposal to confer the rank of general on provincial-level police. What is your view on this issue?

- In my opinion, the essence of ranks and military ranks is the issue of salary. Salary here, according to the viewpoint of Resolution 7 of the Central Committee, is clearly stated to implement the principle of distribution according to labor and job position appropriately, in accordance with contribution. Therefore, according to this principle, the police force must adjust salaries accordingly...

Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau speaks at the group discussion. Photo: Anh Tuan.

And why is there a need to adjust the rank of general to local police because the current Law on Public Security has many shortcomings?

The first problem is the unfairness in the issue of ranks. For example, the current law stipulates that the deputy general director is only a major general, while the directors of some departments are lieutenant generals. If in terms of leadership position principles, the deputy general director is the superior of the director, why are they only major generals, while the director is a lieutenant general? That is unreasonable.

The second problem is that although they are both Directors, the Director of Ho Chi Minh City Police and the Director of Hanoi Police are Lieutenant Generals, while the Directors of other local police are only Colonels. Even the Deputy Director of Hanoi Police and Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Police are promoted to Major General.

Third, the unreasonable rotation of cadres, at the local level, how can a Colonel rank go to the Ministry to become a director? And if so, according to the regulations on rotating cadres to the grassroots level, generals and lieutenant generals at the department level who want to become Deputy Minister of Public Security must go through the process of working in the locality, and so there are still general ranks at the locality?!.

Fifth, there are departments with only 100-200 soldiers, some even have only more than 100 soldiers, but the director is still a Lieutenant General, while local police have places that manage up to 4,000-5,000 soldiers, but the provincial police director is still only a Colonel.

- So if we reduce half of the number of focal points (here at the department level), how will the promoted police generals be arranged, sir?

- There have been proposals in the merger process, reducing from 126 departments to 60 departments, then the remaining generals that do not know where to arrange must be arranged to the localities. Many delegates requested to arrange them all, but some delegates said that for now, they should only be arranged in large provinces of type 1. And if arranged like that, there would still be prime ministers... However, the Party and the State have issued very clear regulations on the number of generals in the police and the army. Specifically, the police have 205 generals, the army has 415 generals. Up to now, when reorganizing the apparatus of the Ministry of Public Security by merging here and reducing the number of focal points there, the number of generals may not reach the "quota" of 205 people.

- If we arrange generals from top to bottom, is it necessary to propose to promote the provincial police director to general? And should we and is there any way to separate military rank from salary, sir?

- If the provincial police are of grade 1, they manage 5,000-6,000 soldiers at a time, why are they not promoted to generals? Meanwhile, a department head who only manages a few hundred soldiers is already a lieutenant general, so is it reasonable to assign them based on labor? However, in my opinion, the assignment of which comrade to which position should be left to the Central Public Security Party Committee because they understand and grasp which position requires which person and resolve it internally among themselves. In my opinion, military rank and salary cannot be separated.