Dr. Le Doan Hop: Cultural management, 'management' must have 'reason'

To implement this strategy, according to Dr. Le Doan Hop, former Minister of Information and Communications, the National Cultural Conference (opening on November 24) should focus on and discuss the three most core values: family culture, corporate culture and office culture.

Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Mr. Le Doan Hop about related issues.

PV:Vietnam has gone through 35 yearsDguava, a long enough time to re-evaluate the achievements as well as lessons learned. As someone who once held the important position of Minister of Culture and Information, can you most concisely evaluate the cultural achievements over the past 35 years?

Dr. Le Doan Hop offers incense at Chung Son Temple.

Mr. Le Doan Hop:In 1986, the country underwent comprehensive renovation. In particular, the economic sector had many summaries and assessments. Regarding culture, every time the Party issued directives, resolutions, and conclusions, there were assessments and comments. However, this National Cultural Conference focused on comprehensive assessments and provided orientations and strategies for cultural development in the spirit of Resolution XIII of the Party.

Looking back over the past 35 years, I think that the cultural field has many bright spots: Firstly, the cultural identity of ethnic groups has been preserved, maintained, developed and enhanced. The country has innovated, the economy has integrated deeply, but culture has not been dissolved or lost. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the culture of 54 ethnic groups has not faded but has been preserved and promoted, not only for preservation but also as a strength of the Northern provinces and the Central Highlands to attract domestic and foreign tourists. Secondly, local, regional and national cultural festivals have been preserved, restored more deeply, with more identity and richness. Third, tangible and intangible culture is preserved, including many values ​​recognized by UNESCO as world cultural heritages such as Hue Royal Court Music, Central Highlands Gong Cultural Space, Quan Ho Folk Songs, Nghe Tinh Vi Giam Folk Songs, Ca Tru, Giong Festival, Xoan Singing, Hung King Worship, Southern Amateur Music, etc.

Fourth, culinary culture is taken to a new level, with many national and international records.

PV:But it cannot be denied that a part of society is deteriorating in terms of culture and morality. Sir, in the National Assembly sessions, the issue of social morality and behavioral culture degradation is continuously raised by many National Assembly deputies?

Mr. Le Doan Hop:That is an undeniable fact. The cultural and moral degradation of a part of society, especially the youth, will be discussed thoroughly at this National Cultural Conference for better guidance and implementation.

PV:It is known that you are particularly interested in the cultural field. What is your opinion on the cultural and moral degradation of a part of society?

Mr. Le Doan Hop:It is true that the morality and culture of a part of society are deteriorating, even deteriorating with no clear end in sight. I am deeply troubled by this phenomenon, so in the poem “My Hometown from Commune to Ward”, I had to exclaim: “If only the economy today had the morality of the past”. If this isolated phenomenon becomes widespread, it is truly dangerous, because if culture and morality degrade, all the economic and material achievements after 35 years of renovation will no longer have much meaning. Even further, the blood and bones of our ancestors who were shed to liberate the nation will fade away when a part of the youth do not know how to appreciate it.

PV:"The economic price today has the morality of the past."IfIf you were the leader of the cultural sector, what would you do?

Mr. Le Doan Hop:As a former soldier of Uncle Ho, I spent 9 years participating in the liberation of the South, so I understand very well the roots of culture in many regions. Simply put, culture is morality, human love, love of compatriots, comrades, family love, brothers, friends, homeland, things that cannot be weighed or measured. It can be said that a person with morality will radiate outward with culture. A person has culture because inside they have morality. Therefore, culture is the quintessence of morality.

The country is now very different from the time of our ancestors. But cultural values ​​have never changed, so, jokingly, if I were to be the leader of the Cultural sector now, I would try to do three big things: family culture, corporate culture and office culture.

“Family is the cell of society”, the basic economic unit, the basic security unit, the basic cultural unit. All the good things of the homeland and country originate from the family and vice versa, all the unrest and unhappiness of the nation and people also originate from the family.

President Ho Chi Minh taught that: “Family is the cell of society. Only when the family is good will society be good”. Uncle Ho attached great importance to the issue of human education, and first of all, education must come from within the family. Therefore, in this National Cultural Conference, it is necessary to discuss in depth about family culture, corporate culture, office culture and public ethics. It must be understood that family culture is the foundation of society. Corporate culture is the economic foundation. Office culture and public ethics are the political foundation. When all three pillars of culture are taken care of, the culture of our nation will flourish.

In President Ho Chi Minh's Testament, it was affirmed: "Our Party is a ruling Party. Each Party member and cadre must be truly imbued with revolutionary ethics, truly thrifty, honest, impartial, and selfless...". As I said, ethics reflects the culture of the ruling Party, specifically the culture of behavior of cadres, civil servants, and public employees towards the people.

PV:The connotation of behavioral culture is very broad. For civil servants and public employees, what kind of behavioral culture do you think is appropriate?

Mr. Le Doan Hop:The behavioral culture of civil servants and public employees today is the same as that of officials in the past, the lowest position in the past was the village chief. In feudal society, in any dynasty, our ancestors always paid great attention to the team of officials closest to the people, that is the "village chief". Wherever the village chief was popular with the people, there the people loved and respected the court and vice versa. I would like to give an example of King Le Thanh Tong (reigned the country from 1855 to 1865).1460to year1497) is one of the wise emperors, respected by the people in the feudal history of Vietnam.

Why was Le Thanh Tong the wisest emperor? Because he carefully selected the grassroots officials, right from the village chief level. To become a village chief, one must meet four criteria: “Having a good education” which means having knowledge. “Gia tu hao tuc” which means knowing how to get rich, because only those who know how to make their family rich will know how to make their relatives, neighbors and the wider society rich. “Gentle virtue”, interacting with people every day, at all times and places must be gentle and polite. “Trustworthy language”, as the village chief, one must say whatever the people believe.

In 1947, right at the time of focusing on preparing for the Autumn-Winter Campaign, at the Viet Bac base, President Ho Chi Minh wrote a famous book entitled: "Reforming the way of working" consisting of 6 parts: Criticism and correction; Some experiences; Revolutionary character and ethics; Cadre issues; Leadership; Fighting bragging. This is a handbook teaching ethics and culture of public servants, mobilizing the strength of the Party, the nation, the army and our people to contribute to the glorious victory of the all-people, all-out resistance war. The things in the book "Reforming the way of working" still have their full value, and today we are trying to learn Uncle Ho's teachings through implementing the Campaign "Studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh".

From the way our ancestors governed the country, from Uncle Ho's teachings, the Party has realized and is determined to rectify the team of cadres and civil servants with Regulation 47-QD/TW (dated November 1, 2011) and recently Regulation 37-QD/TW (dated October 25, 2021) on things that Party members are not allowed to do.

PV:Vietnam can be proud to be one of the leading countries in information technology development in the world. But it cannot be denied that a part of the people, especially the youth, have degraded morally and culturally because of the Internet. As the first Minister of the Ministry of Information and Communications, what do you think about this?

Mr. Le Doan Hop:First of all, it must be said that online society and netizens are virtual societies, but virtual societies honestly and objectively reflect real societies. How real societies operate is reflected exactly in virtual networks, so to solve the problems of virtual societies, we must start from real societies.

Solving problems, specifically state management, but "management" must have "reason", must be based on management principles, laws must change promptly to suit life, shaping all developments. Managing online society is like managing real society, that is, managing from the grassroots, "management" must have "reason". That means respecting the law and caring about people's psychology.

We are living with the 4.0 Industrial Revolution and then the 5.0 Revolution and we cannot stand on the sidelines of this revolution. Looking at some spoiled young people, living without aspirations, not knowing about tomorrow, living passively, even violating the law to the point of falling into the law, many people attribute it to the Internet, social networks, to the development of technology - information, in my opinion these attributions are unconvincing because these people are only a few compared to the majority who are and will rely on the technology - information platform, the Internet to study, acquire information, knowledge, learn good things, right things, learn to get rich, share difficulties with compatriots, connect love, cultivate culture, knowledge domestically and internationally.

PV:Does that mean you're not too worried about the fact that young people spend 5-7 hours a day "living in the virtual world"?

Mr. Le Doan Hop:Everything has two sides, both positive and negative. In the past, when there was no Internet, social networks, smartphones... there were negative aspects, there were people who broke the law, so we cannot attribute it to social networks, to information technology, that a part of the youth has degraded in culture and morals.

Many people have told me that the younger generation born after 2000 cares less about their grandparents, uncles, brothers, and relatives and is concerned that traditional family culture is being lost. I think we should not worry too much and cite the example of General Vo Nguyen Giap's funeral, 70% of those who came to burn incense for the General were the younger generation. Let's ask why the younger generation came to visit the General, many people rode motorbikes hundreds of kilometers to Hanoi and waited for hours just to burn incense before the General's portrait. For someone who has never met him, only knows him through books and social networks, young people are willing to stop all work to burn incense for General Vo Nguyen Giap, so there is no reason why they do not remember their grandparents, parents, brothers, and uncles.

PV:This National Cultural Conference will certainly discuss “preserving national cultural identity”. Sir, what is preserving national cultural identity when some economic experts have spoken out about abandoning the traditional Lunar New Year to “celebrate the solar New Year for international integration”?

Mr. Le Doan Hop:That is just the opinion of a very few people from an economic perspective and does not represent the majority.

Culture is an identity that has been distilled, condensed, and absorbed over hundreds of years, thousands of years. Time has eliminated temporary phenomena, only condensing the core of tangible and intangible values, which is traditional culture. Just like our ancestors in the past, culture today is always selected by time. What is suitable will last, what is not suitable will be eliminated.

Lunar New Year is a traditional culture that has been preserved for thousands of years, not only by our ancestors, our people but also by countries in the East Asian region. However, in the “flat world”, Vietnam and other countries that “celebrate” the traditional Lunar New Year still enjoy the New Year according to the European and American peoples, so there needs to be an adjustment in the holiday time between the two New Years so that people can enjoy both national and international New Years.

I am a child of the Central region, where from ancient times to the present, every family and every person wishes to return to their hometown on the traditional New Year. But in reality, the days before - during - and after Tet, people who return home from far away have to work extremely hard, especially women. The longer Tet lasts, the harder it is for women to work, they cannot enjoy Tet, and have to work hard to eat and drink every day. In my personal opinion, I think that we can shorten the Lunar New Year holiday and extend the Solar New Year holiday or keep the Lunar New Year holiday and add more Solar New Year holidays so that people who are far away from home can choose and enjoy both Tet holidays in accordance with the circumstances of each family, both honoring their ancestors and connecting with their new home; both traditional and modern; both ethnic and national, that would be more reasonable.

PV. Thank you for the conversation!