Village Chief

(Baonghean) - Go village has three hamlets: Thuong, Trung, Ha. Thuong and Trung hamlets have both held elections for village chiefs, only Ha hamlet has not been elected due to lack of personnel. The old hamlet chief withdrew his candidacy to go to the Central Highlands to grow coffee with his brother-in-law. No one in the village is interested in the position of village chief with a monthly allowance of two hundred thousand dong. Moreover, the countryside is not as peaceful as before. Gambling, drug addiction, and prostitution brought back by people working far away are making the village no longer as peaceful as before.

The meeting to elect the village chief of Ha village took place at the village cultural house, with the participation of the vice chairman of the commune and the village committees; several people who were recommended to run for the village chief position all refused. The meeting was at a standstill when Mr. Thuan - the village party cell secretary proposed to elect Phong as the village chief, he said that Private Phong had just completed his military service and returned to the village, had trained well and should be admitted to the Party in the army. There were many whispers, some said that was right, it was necessary to create conditions for the young generation to develop, others said Phong was too young, only twenty-two years old and the village was full of elders, who would listen. After much debate, people finally agreed to elect Private Phong, but at that time Private Phong was still plowing in the fields, so they had to send someone on a motorbike to summon Private Phong to the village cultural house to attend the meeting.

Illustration: Hong Toai

His clothes were still covered in mud, he only had time to wash his hands and feet, Private Phong went in to greet everyone, at that time he also knew that he was called to attend the meeting to be elected as the village chief. After a few minutes of surprise, Private Phong also asked to withdraw because he had no experience in leadership, but everyone agreed not to let him withdraw, until the secret ballot, Private Phong was elected with 75% of the votes. So Private Phong became the head of Ha village with seven hundred households and nearly two thousand people.

On the first night of his life as a village chief, Private Phong could not sleep. The Governor- Phong's father said that as a village chief, the main duty was to attend meetings, collect contributions from the people and attend funerals and weddings. What was so important that he had to stay awake? He did not have to wait long, just tomorrow or the day after, the commune would send someone to urge the village chief to collect the outstanding fees, just you wait and see.

As Mr. Thong said, the next morning the commune sent Mr. Hanh - deputy head of the cooperative and deputy head of the commune's debt collection department to discuss with the village chief Phong about collecting the village's outstanding fees, both the previous year's and this year's fees amounting to eighty million VND. Mr. Hanh said that the commune was preparing to elect a new leadership board so it was in dire need of funds; this was the first challenge to confirm the new village chief's ability. If he could collect all the outstanding fees from last year and this year's fees, the village chief would be considered a talented leader by the commune leaders and would be trained by the commune to be a source cadre!

Village Chief Phong looked at the list of taxes and fees, there were dozens of them in total and was shocked:

- A grain of rice and a chicken have to carry thirty-six types of fees and funds. How can the poor bear it?

Mr. Hanh said angrily:

- The commune's budget is tight so we have to collect as much as possible, moreover, these contributions are all voluntary!

The village chief Phong said that the commune budget was poor and needed to be collected. Why did he still see the commune officials riding motorbikes to the district town to eat and drink at Mr. Tan's dog meat restaurant, and even sing karaoke together? Mr. Hanh blushed and said nothing, only reminding the village chief Phong to quickly collect the fees to the commune, no later than the beginning of next week.

Village Chief Phong searched through the pile of documents and books that the old village chief had handed over. When he opened them, he found something strange. In the village meeting minutes, the people raised their hands in agreement 100% that the contributions to various fees and funds were voluntary. Why didn't they pay when the village officials went to collect them? Village Chief Phong immediately went down to some families to check, first Mr. Cam's family. Thinking that the new village chief had come to collect the fund for the elderly, Mr. Cam immediately said:

- My husband and I are old and weak, our children are poor and can't support us, how can we have money to contribute so much to the fund?

- So why at the village meeting, all the elders raised their hands to voluntarily contribute?

Hearing the village chief's question, Mr. Cam said that the contribution was too much, no one in the village wanted it, but if they didn't raise their hands in agreement, they were afraid that the village and commune officials would make it difficult for them to get birth certificates, marriage certificates, and background checks for their children and grandchildren to go to school or work, so they just raised their hands randomly; if there was a secret ballot, no one would agree! This year, he was eighty years old, his wife was seventy-eight years old, and they had to pay up to thirty types of fees and funds, and for the fund for the elderly, each person had to pay fifty thousand a year, which was one hundred thousand for the couple. Village chief Phong asked Mr. Cam, each year he and his wife had to pay one hundred thousand to the fund for the elderly, so what help did the Association of the Elderly get? Mr. Cam said, if he was sick and had to go to the hospital, he would get a kilo of sugar, and during Tet, he would get a box of jam and a New Year greeting card!

Leaving Mr. Cam's house, Phong village chief went to Tuat's house, the person who still owed the most fees and fund in the village. Tuat was raising four daughters and an old mother-in-law by herself. Her husband had left home and disappeared for several years after his wife gave birth to their fourth daughter. Tuat's family cultivated four sao of rice fields, and each year they harvested twelve quintals of rice, equivalent to six million VND. After deducting the cost of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation fees, plowing, planting, and harvesting, they had three million left. Three million was not enough for six people to live on for a year, so Tuat had to work hard to earn money. So it was inevitable that she still owed the village three million VND in fund fees and fees for irrigation fees, security funds, funds for the elderly, funds for children, funds for happiness and joy, funds for education promotion, funds for flood and storm prevention, environmental funds, etc. Tuat told Phong village chief that her family had no money to pay. If they wanted to arrest her, they could just arrest her. Village chief Phong was confused. He told Ms. Tuat to let him discuss with the village and commune to cancel her debt. Ms. Tuat opened her eyes wide in surprise:

- Clear my family's debt and fees?

- Yes, I will suggest!

Ms. Tuat was very touched, her mouth kept saying that the new village chief, young but loving to the villagers, was truly a different kind of Uncle Ho's soldier, unlike the old village chief who solicited... Speaking of this, Ms. Tuat realized she had misspoken so she kept silent. Although Ms. Tuat did not say it, the two words "solicitation" were enough for village chief Phong to understand the situation, his throat was bitter. So it was too clear, the so-called village and commune applying democratic regulations in the countryside to collect fees and funds by raising hands to vote voluntarily was actually an imposition; the people had to raise their hands because they were afraid of retaliation from the cadres, making it difficult to get all kinds of documents and personal records; some people were even confirmed by the village chief on the university entrance exam records of the children of the village fund debtors as being from families that opposed the state's policies?

Three days later, the Phong village chief held a village meeting, inviting everyone from eighteen years old and above to attend. The meeting was about abolishing all types of funds. Only a few people dared to stand up and speak out against the village and commune collecting too many types of funds and fees. The rest sat quietly because they were afraid of retaliation. However, when they were given a computer-typed sheet of paper listing thirty-six types of taxes, funds, and fees so that everyone could cross out the unreasonable types of funds and fees and put them in the ballot box without having to sign, everyone was enthusiastic. The total result was that thirty-one types of fees and funds were crossed out. Phong village chief was surprised, but seeing that everyone was completely right, he suggested making a record and recommending to the commune committee to abolish the thirty-one types of unreasonable fees and funds that the commune had set up, contrary to state regulations.

The petition of Phong village chief caused a stir in the commune, spreading to the district and the province. The province sent a working group to Ha village, after investigation and survey, found it reasonable, so the province expanded it to the whole district.

Short stories by the writerVu Dam