People-centered administration: More than just a slogan.

Many knowledgeable people share that the renowned Luc Ngan lychee region today is the result of the hard work of many, including dedicated and responsible officials. Exploring large markets like China, and maintaining lychee sales even during the years of the severe Covid-19 pandemic, required immense effort, intelligence, market understanding, and strong relationships with traders in the neighboring country. Similarly, the famous fruit-growing region of Son La today also bears the mark of officials who pioneered the way, meticulously planning and testing suitable varieties, thoroughly understanding the market, and working with the people to build a fruit brand in a land that was previously not easy to cultivate.

However, the appearance of a provincial-level leader on a social media platform selling agricultural products to the people is still something very new. In this age of technology, the effect on social media platforms is enormous. People are familiar with the image of artists, celebrities, and influential people using the internet to promote products. It's not uncommon to see livestream sessions worth tens or hundreds of billions of dong, and it's not uncommon to see surprisingly cheap goods being offered for sale.

The allure of celebrity endorsements and the appeal of fast-moving consumer goods have spurred customers to make purchases. However, the downside is a chaotic online market where it's difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake products. Misleading advertising, counterfeit goods, and products of unknown origin are rampant, and consumers bear the brunt of it. Authorities have had to intervene and take decisive action, with the "Kera Candy" case, hyped as a "vegetable replacement," being a prime example.

When beauty queens, KLOs, and award-winning "community service" figures face legal consequences for "deceiving consumers," the appearance of a Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee livestreaming the sale of fabric to the people during the peak harvest season is something the people have been waiting for. It represents a balance; whether social media is good or bad depends on how it is used. Using social media for the benefit of the nation and its people makes the image of the official more relatable and convincing.

I've just come to see a very correct viewpoint: Being a public official requires producing concrete results. Those results are the satisfaction of the people. Some major policies and strategies require meticulous planning and lengthy implementation to yield results. But there are also things that can be done immediately, "spontaneous" actions, as the Vice Chairman candidly stated, that conceal the profound sense of responsibility of today's public servants.

Any commune or ward where citizens still complain about authoritarian and arrogant attitudes that make things difficult for them; any commune or ward where work is handled slowly, where officials rely on outdated regulations or intentionally misinterpret regulations, causing bottlenecks, then the leaders of that commune or ward, especially the heads of the Party committee and government, cannot be evaluated as having "excellently completed their tasks" or considered for promotion to higher positions.

With the increased application of technology, especially the VNeID system developed by the National Population Data Center of the Ministry of Public Security, other management agencies can leverage electronic data systems to best serve the people.

The convenience of technology and the determination to drastically change the administrative system from "managing" to "serving" the people are bringing about positive and noticeable changes in many areas, especially in hot and sensitive areas such as land, taxation, insurance, and healthcare.

All the necessary conditions are met; what remains is awareness, responsibility, and a proactive attitude in serving the people. With a two-tiered local government model, in which the ward and commune levels are empowered to handle most administrative procedures, it is expected that the spirit of serving the people will spread even further. The measure of the quality and competence of officials will become increasingly clear.

Simply put, with the same administrative procedure and the same task, why can your ward or commune handle it successfully while ours is hampered? Handling work on a technology platform requires officials to stay updated on regulations and constantly improve themselves to meet job requirements and the expectations of the people.

In fact, when officials consider serving the people as their duty and resolving people's issues as a source of happiness, there will be no shortage of positive initiatives and effective practices to spread throughout the community.

When officials are close to the people, understand their needs, and serve them, not only will work efficiency improve and the prestige of the Party committee and government be strengthened, but a positive atmosphere will also prevail in society and on digital platforms. A society full of good things, where people place their full trust in the government and in public servants who serve the people, that is the goal to be achieved.

To achieve this, we need to encourage a spirit of dedication, creativity, boldness, and responsibility for the common good. We need more specific regulations to protect good officials who dare to think and act, while also drastically cutting unnecessary administrative procedures. We must promptly reward those who exemplify the spirit of serving the people, using good deeds to overcome evil, as our ancestors often said.

Soon, there will be more creative officials who think of ways to benefit society and the community. The public service system will develop, allowing citizens to complete administrative procedures from home instead of crowding in front of cramped, hot office windows. There will be more smiles in offices, as citizens have their matters resolved quickly and officials are happy to assist citizens in accordance with their responsibilities. There will be more chairmen and secretaries who are not only willing to promote products for their province or commune online, helping farmers overcome difficulties in selling their goods, but also possess a thorough understanding of the market, readily supporting investors and businesses with land and land in a selfless and responsible manner, for the common good…

Gaining the people's favor means gaining everything; losing the people's favor means losing everything. Certainly, every day there are many officials working and acting for the people that the public is unaware of. But for good people and good deeds to become a widespread trend, much more effort is still needed.

Hopefully, with the determination and efforts of the entire political system, the people-centered administration will be strengthened and perfected through institutions, technology, exemplary conduct, and discipline, so that good deeds become commonplace, and serving the people becomes a given, rather than just a "phenomenon" on social media like the case of the Vice Chairman livestreaming to sell fabric in Bac Giang!