The Constitution needs to be more concise, condensed, and clear.

1. Basically, we believe that the Draft Amendment to the 1992 Constitution has been carefully and seriously prepared by the Constitution Drafting Committee. However, each specific article of the Constitution should be titled so that when reading it, readers can easily visualize it and when quoting or citing, readers, speakers, and writers can point it out specifically. Avoid leaving the title blank as it is now. For example: Article 12 should be titled: Foreign policy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; Article 13 should be titled: National flag, national emblem, national anthem of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

2. Regarding the Preamble: We believe that the Preamble in the Draft Amendment to the 1992 Constitution is a bit long, does not clearly demonstrate the significance of the promulgation of the amended Constitution, is still heavily interpretive, and is not really concise and succinct. Therefore, it is necessary to rewrite it more concisely and succinctly, emphasizing that the amendment to the 1992 Constitution is the inheritance of the essence of the previous Constitutions (1946, 1959, 1980, 1992).

At the same time, he emphasized that the amendment of the 1992 Constitution reflects the development of the trend of the times and the will of the Vietnamese working people under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

In our opinion, the Draft should rewrite the content of paragraphs 2 and 4 to be more concise, succinct, and condensed. At the same time, there should be a leading sentence to promulgate the amended Constitution as follows: The Vietnamese working people under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam vow to build a Constitution and are determined to implement the Constitution for themselves as follows.

In our opinion, the introduction of such a sentence aims to affirm the goal and subject of promulgating and amending the Constitution to conform to the practices of advanced countries in the world and the 1946 Constitution. For example, the Constitution of the United States states: “We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, maintain internal security, provide for the common defense, promote all-round prosperity, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”.

Similarly, the preamble of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany also states the purpose and subject of the constitution: “Conscious of their responsibility before God and before mankind, and desiring to preserve world peace as an equal member of the European Union, the German people, through their constitutional authority, have enacted this Constitution.”

The preamble of the Constitution of Japan reads: “We, the Japanese people, represented by the members of the Diet, determined to secure for ourselves and for posterity the benefits of peaceful co-operation with other nations and the achievements of freedom at home, determined not to witness the calamities of war which have been perpetrated by the preceding Government, do declare that the people hold the sovereignty of the people, and do establish this Constitution.”

If we make a comparison, we see that: Unlike the 1946 Constitution, the later Constitutions of 1959, 1980 and 1992 currently in effect do not directly state the goals and the subjects of promulgation.

Specifically: Through indirect language, the Preamble of the 1946 Constitution has expressed itself more successfully than later Constitutions in defining the goals and subjects of the Constitution. The subject of constitutional rights under the 1946 Constitution is the “national people” (people), and is expressed as follows: “The people are entrusted with the responsibility of drafting the first Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam”. The goal of the Constitution recorded in the 1946 Constitution is “independence and unity, advancing on the path of glory and happiness, in step with the world’s progressive trend and the peace aspirations of mankind”.

Through that we can see: How important is the preamble of a country's Constitution!

3. Regarding Article 4: Regarding the leadership role of the Communist Party of Vietnam: we believe that the Draft Amendment should stipulate as follows: “The Communist Party of Vietnam… is the sole force leading the State and society”. Such a provision is intended to clearly affirm the role and position of our Party in leading the State and society in the current period, avoiding suspicion and sabotage by hostile forces against our Party.

4. Regarding other contents: In Article 7: In Clause 2, Article 7 should be amended to remove the phrase “by voters or” because in reality, National Assembly and People’s Council deputies are only dismissed by the National Assembly or People’s Council, but in reality, voters are only voters and cannot directly dismiss these deputies. Therefore, it is necessary to have more practical and strict regulations, avoiding the current formal regulations. In Article 9: In Clause 3, Article 9: I propose to amend as follows: change the phrase “The State creates conditions for the Vietnam Fatherland Front…” to the phrase “The State ensures conditions for the Vietnam Fatherland Front, its member organizations and other social organizations to operate”.

In Article 13: In order to be both solemn and honorable to authors who have made great contributions to the country in composing the national flag, national anthem and national emblem, our State should include the author's name in this article. For example, the National Flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam... is by author Nguyen Huu Tien; the current national anthem is by author Van Cao.

In Article 21: The provision that “Everyone has the right to life” in this article is too short, not fully reflecting the basic human rights such as the right to work, study, and the right to pursue happiness according to the common progress of humanity. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement this provision: Everyone has the right to life, the right to work, study, and the right to pursue happiness. The right to life of citizens can be considered and deprived when citizens commit particularly serious crimes and are sentenced to death by the Court of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In Article 31: Clause 1 should be further stipulated that: Everyone has the right to complain, denounce, reflect, and make recommendations to competent State agencies about illegal acts of agencies, organizations, and individuals. Such additional regulations will ensure more rigor and completeness because in reality, not all issues require complaints or denunciations, but also reflections or recommendations. In Article 34, Clause 1 stipulates: "Everyone has the right to freedom of business". I would like to add that: Everyone has the right to freedom of business according to the provisions of law (or within the framework of law). Such regulations aim to ensure more rigor.

Nguyen Duc Thuan (Department of Health)