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HO CHI MINH'S THOUGHTS ON INSPECTION AND CONTROL METHODS FOR OFFICIALS AND APPLICATION TO CORRUPTION PREVENTION AND FIGHTING
Nguyen T.T.
Nguyen Thi Thanh - Lecturer, HANOI METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY; PhD student,
VNU UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, HANOI, SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
Abstract: The control method for the power of politicians and civil servants is a central issue in the leadership and governance of political systems worldwide. This is a concern of President Ho Chi Minh during the establishment and organization of the power structure in Vietnam. To learn about Ho Chi Minh 's Thoughts on inspection and control methods for officials and application to corruption prevention and fighting, the paper explains two issues. The first is Ho Chi Minh's Thoughts on inspection and control methods for officials. The second is that from analyzing the actual situation and issues raised in inspecting and supervising the power of officials in Vietnam and the world, particularly in the context of corruption, the author gives some solutions to enhance the effectiveness of corruption prevention and fighting in Vietnam and the world following Ho Chi Minh's inspection and control methods for the power of officials, contributing to realizing the United Nations 'goal: "peace, justice, and strong institutions " for citizens of all nations. Keywords: The inspection method, control method, controlling officials, Ho Chi Minh's ideology, and corruption prevention and fighting.
МЫСЛИ ХО ШИ МИНА О МЕТОДАХ ПРОВЕРКИ И КОНТРОЛЯ ЧИНОВНИКОВ И ИХ ПРИМЕНЕНИИ В ПРОФИЛАКТИКЕ И БОРЬБЕ С КОРРУПЦИЕЙ
Нгуен Т.Т.
Нгуен Тхи Тхань - преподаватель, Ханойский столичный университет; докторант, ВНУ Социально-гуманитарный университет, г. Ханой, Социалистическая Республика Вьетнам
Аннотация: метод контроля власти политиков и государственных служащих является центральным вопросом лидерства и управления политическими системами во всем мире. Это беспокоило президента Хо Ши Мина во время создания и организации структуры власти во Вьетнаме. Чтобы узнать о мыслях Хо Ши Мина о методах проверки и контроля для чиновников и их применении в целях предотвращения и борьбы с коррупцией, в статье объясняются два вопроса. Первая — «Мысли Хо Ши Мина о методах проверки и контроля чиновников». Во-вторых, на основе анализа фактической ситуации и проблем, возникающих при проверке и надзоре за властью должностных лиц во Вьетнаме и в мире, особенно в контексте коррупции, автор предлагает некоторые решения по повышению эффективности предотвращения коррупции и борьбы с ней во Вьетнаме. мир следует методам проверки и контроля Хо Ши Мина за властью чиновников, способствуя реализации цели Организации Объединенных Наций: «мир, справедливость и сильные институты» для граждан всех стран. Ключевые слова: метод проверки, метод контроля, контролирующие должностные лица, идеология Хо Ши Мина, предотвращение и борьба с коррупцией.
Introduction
Ho Chi Minh was a typical politician of Vietnam and the world in the 20th century. He made a great contribution to the success of the national liberation movement to protect human rights and the rights of ethnic groups. Regarding the issue of exercising power, Ho Chi Minh believes that the power of the political system and the rights of socio-political organizations and the people must always be strictly controlled. He emphasizes that the first and most important thing is "controlling officials" with full content and methods of internal and external inspection and control, along with coordination between subjects and methods to block institutional, legal, and technical loopholes, ensuring that organizations and individuals in the political system serve public power. Currently, the world is experiencing unpredictable changes with many conflicts. Therefore, countries inevitably need to share development goals and methods to inspect and control politicians and civil servants to serve the development of powerful entities and citizens in every society.
1. Ho Chi Minh's ideology on inspection and control methods for officials
Ho Chi Minh's ideas on the inspection and control methods for officials are understood as his system of views regarding how the Communist Party of Vietnam builds the institution and organizational structure and implements regulations for inspecting and controlling the power of officials and party members in the political system, ensuring that they comprehend and fulfill their rights and duties entrusted by the people and serve the public interest.
1.1. Building an inspection institution and a systematic control model of the power of officials from central to local levels
Ho Chi Minh placed great emphasis on monitoring and controlling the power of officials by establishing a unified institution from the central to local levels in a context where Vietnam had a single ruling Party. Specifically, he led the development of the Political Program of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 1930), the Political Platform of the Vietnam Workers' Party (February 1951), the Party Statutes of 1930, 1951, and 1960, and numerous other guiding documents. He emphasized that inspection work was one of the Party's leadership functions. To lead effectively, it was necessary to conduct regular checks. Not inspecting was considered not leading. He demanded: "The inspection must be systematic, meaning that once a resolution has been issued, it is required to urge the implementation of that resolution immediately and to know the activities and working methods of local officials and people. Thus, we can promptly discover the shortcomings and difficulties, correct the drawbacks, and find solutions" [1, volume V, p. 637]. Ho Chi Minh pointed out that inspecting and supervising officials should be regular. "We don't inspect every day, but we often review to help them learn from experience, correct their shortcomings, and boost their strengths. If we assign tasks to them without inspecting them and only pay attention when they fail, we do not truly value officials" [1, volume V, p. 316].
Regarding the inspection and control models for the power of officials, Ho Chi Minh made it clear that all government members were servants of the people. If the government harmed the people, the people had the right to dismiss the government because the people held the highest position and rights. To empower the people, building a team of clean and strong officials was necessary. The political system had to know how to control the officials. To realize this, Ho Chi Minh directed the Standing Committee of the Party Central Committee to issue Resolution No. 29-QN/TW dated October 16, 1948, on establishing the Central Inspection Commission of the Central Committee, the first specialized inspection agency of the Communist Party of Vietnam. He directly led the drafting of the Constitution of the State of Vietnam in 1946 and 1959. He issued Decree No. 64 on establishing the Special Inspection Committee (1945-1949), Decree No. 138 B-SL on establishing the Government Inspection Committee (1949-1956), and Decree No. 261/SL on establishing the Central Inspection Committee of the Government (1956-1961). He also organized the inspection model of the Party and government from the central to local levels to build a political and legal foundation for inspecting officials within the political system and ensuring that they exercise power correctly, sufficiently, and effectively.
Thus, Ho Chi Minh pays special attention to building an institutional framework and model for inspecting and controlling the power of officials based on the principle of "a single ruling party," the principle that all power belongs to the people, and the principle of equality of every individual before the Constitution and the law. From there, it is possible to create a foundation to establish operational institutions of the Inspection Commission of the Party Committee and the Government Inspectorate. He emphasizes that under a single-party rule, the perfection of party discipline shall be aligned with the construction of state laws, regulations of socio-political organizations, and the division of power according to the principle of democratic centralism. It is significant to coordinate and unify between party committees at all levels, Inspection Commission of Party Committee, Government Inspectorate, inspection agencies, inspection officials, the people, the press, and judicial authorities to build regular, periodic, ad-hoc, or specialized forms of inspection and supervision, contributing to the creation of a democratic, transparent, and open mechanism in the political system. From there, it is possible to tightly control the exercise of power and prevent the risk of abuse of power by officials at all levels, relevant agencies, and sectors.
1.2. Building an institution for inspecting and controlling officials corresponds to the set of rules for inspecting and controlling officials to ensure proactivity, objectivity, and rigor
President Ho Chi Minh highlighted the importance of the inspection method. He required the Party to build a scientific and practical institution for inspecting and controlling officials, ensuring that "the Party's inspection must be rigorous" [1, volume XV, p. 547] and the control was proactive and direct to prevent the bureaucracy and the authoritarian and rigid working styles of the officials and Party members. He explained explicitly: "How do we control? Of course, we don't sit in the office and wait for the officials to report. We have to go survey the scene and see with our own eyes. Such control is essential because of the following things:
1. We can clearly know whether officials and employees are good or bad.
2. Know clearly the strengths and weaknesses of the agencies.
3. Know clearly the positives and negatives of orders and resolutions" [1, volume V, p. 327].
According to Ho Chi Minh, the fact that organizing the work of cadres has many limitations, especially for local officials, causes difficulties in turning the Party's Platform and guidelines into principles and actions of the people. To address this issue, it is necessary to strengthen the inspection at the grassroots level. For those in charge, there must be a "strict inspection." Superior officials should consistently urge and inspect the work of subordinate officials. People help the Government and organizations inspect the work and behavior of officials.
In order for the institution to operate, inspect, and supervise officials scientifically and effectively, in addition to complying with the set of rules promulgated by the Party and State, it is crucial to pay attention to "how to review cadres. When reviewing officials, we must consider the nature of their work, not just one thing at a time, but their entire process and work" [1, volume V, p. 317-318]. Suppose leaders have objective awareness and exhibit skillful leadership (the art of leadership). In that case, they help officials express opinions, take charge of work, and overcome situations where they lack cooperation or work inappropriately. That is how the Party enhances the good points and corrects the bad points for officials so that they thoroughly practice the Party's and Government's policies.
1.3. Inspecting and controlling officials must use the method of self-criticism and criticism, combined with perfecting and strictly practicing Party discipline
To prevent abuse of power by officials, Ho Chi Minh emphasized: "When inspecting, we must criticize and self-criticize to reveal all shortcomings and find ways to correct them. Thanks to that, officials will attach more importance to
discipline and enhance their sense of responsibility" [1, volume V, p. 637]. He pointed out that criticism should be directed towards the work, not the individuals doing it, and requested: "Criticism must come from the leaders and the employees. In addition to criticism from superiors and comrades, we must receive criticism from the masses. Thus, the criticism is complete" [1, volume VI, p. 53]. The Party must closely inspect so that criticism is truly practical and has reasonable corrective methods. At the same time, it is critical to overcome the tendency to think commandingly and disregard criticism from local officials and party members. According to Ho Chi Minh, officials who are criticized but do not admit and correct their limitations should resign and leave the public system.
Ho Chi Minh affirmed that applying party discipline played a vital role because promoting discipline was to build the Party's centralized democratic regime. He wrote: "The power of agencies is entrusted by the masses and Party members, not something obtained through self-struggle." "The Party's mottos, policies, and resolutions are all formed by gathering the experiences and opinions of the masses and Party members" [1, volume VIII, p. 286]. Therefore, leaders must not abuse power or be arbitrary. This affirms the credibility and authority of the Party's leading organs. Ho Chi Minh declared that to prevent the risk of corruption of power, the Party had to provide centralized direction. "When electing leading bodies in the Party, careful consideration must be given to drawing up a list of candidates" [1, volume VIII, p. 287]. The Party had to prevent the failure to inspect and supervise elections and candidates and prevent officials from acting freely, being too democratic, and not being responsible for assigned tasks. He emphasized that building and perfecting party discipline should be associated with self-criticism and criticism. To get good results, officials at all levels, especially senior officials, had to be role models.
1.4. Creating the credibility of the entities in charge of inspecting and controlling officials and collaborating with other Parties worldwide
Ho Chi Minh affirmed that the entities inspecting and controlling officials had to have enough prestige, capacity, and experience. These entities included party committees at all levels, party central executive committees and specialized party agencies, inspection committees, leaders, every official and party member in all sectors, the people, judicial authorities, the press, and other countries's parties. The close coordination of the subjects would improve the effectiveness of inspection and control, helping officials master the Party's policies and follow the people's path. Notably, it was his views on promoting the people's rights in empowering and supervising the officials' exercise of powers. He wrote: "All work must rely on the masses. We welcome the masses to urge and inspect" [1, volume VIII, p. 570]. Ho Chi Minh commented that inspecting and supervising Party officials had to focus on mechanisms to promote the people's direct democratic rights, allowing the people to dismiss elected delegates if they no longer receive the people's trust. "That principle ensures the people's control over their delegates" [1, volume XII, p. 357]. He also pointed out that the people had the indirect democratic right, which was to supervise, criticize, and comment on the affairs of the Party and the Government, the activities, and the private affairs of each official and party member.
According to Ho Chi Minh, to ensure that the Party, each official, and party member effectively self-inspects and monitors power, firstly, the Party must listen to criticism from other Parties and the people. Secondly, "every party member, party cell, and executive committee of the party hierarchy must consistently strengthen the Party's ideological work, improve revolutionary ethics, and ensure the discipline and organization of the Party" [1, volume XI, p. 363]. Thirdly, party members must self-criticize and review their comrades' criticisms to correct mistakes thoroughly. Thus, party members are close to the people, non-party officials, and everyone.
1.5. Inspection and supervision from the top down and from the bottom up, combined with inspection and supervision for party members and non-party officials
According to Ho Chi Minh, control is one of three things that ensure the correct leadership of the ruling Party. There are two types of control. The first one is from the top down. That is, leaders control the results of their employees' work. The second one is from the bottom up. That is, the masses and officials control the leader's mistakes and give the methods to correct them. This is the best way to control the employees. He explained: "Leaders only see one side of the work and everyone's change. When looking from the top down, the vision will be limited. On the contrary, the people see everyone's work and changes. They look from the bottom up, so their vision is limited. Hence, to solve this problem, we must combine the experiences of both sides" [1, volume V, p. 325-326].
Ho Chi Minh focused on building and rectifying the Party. According to Ho Chi Minh, besides the majority of exemplary and devoted party members who serve the revolution, the people, and the class well, "there are also some individuals, who do not adhere to the policies of Party and Government, do not follow the people's path, and do not uphold the discipline of the government, organizations, and the people. They ignore their heads and ministers, go without permission, and return without reporting. Some party members and officials do not maintain unity between inside and outside the Party, creating division" [1, volume VIII, p. 50-51]. The cause is "inadequate control." Therefore, party members must be sincere and consider all the pros and cons when reviewing, criticizing, and self-criticizing. Those who are not party members must self-criticize and criticize in the spirit of solidarity and compassion. "Secretaries of executive committees of the party hierarchy need to be ahead of the masses in everything and "walk the talk." Party members, youth union members, officials outside the Party, as well as those in the Party are always role models and unify with the masses into one bloc [1, volume XI, p. 441].
Ho Chi Minh's viewpoint on combining inspecting and supervising party members and non-party officials holds significance for constructing a democratic institution in the context of a single ruling Party in Vietnam, preventing the risk of abuse of power and enhancing the Party's self-defense power. This also reflects the trend of the independent development of the Communist Party of Vietnam with society and the world, allowing the Party to mobilize and proactively control power according to objective rules.
2. Applying Ho Chi Minh's ideology on inspection and control methods for the power of officials in Vietnam and the world
2.1. The actual situation and issues raised in inspecting and supervising the power of officials in Vietnam and the world viewed from the problem of corruption
Applying Ho Chi Minh's thoughts on inspection and control methods for officials and members of the political system helps Vietnam establish a coherent and effective institutional framework, including a system for inspecting, supervising, and controlling the powers of officials. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranking of 180 countries and territories, Vietnam improved its position by 10 places, moving from 87th (in 2021) to 77th (in 2022) [2]. Transparency International (TI) recognized that Vietnam was one of five countries in the world with the most significant improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index, with an increase of 9 points since 2018 (from 33 to 42 points). Specifically, in 2020, Vietnam's CPI was 36/100 points, ranked 104/180 countries and territories, and its GDP reached about 268.4 billion USD. In 2021, the CPI was 39/100 points, ranked 87/180 countries and territories, and GDP was about 366.1 billion USD. In 2022, the CPI was 42/100 points, ranked 77/180 countries and territories, and GDP reached 409 billion USD. However, Vietnam was still in the group of more than two-thirds of countries (68%) with a CPI score below 50 and was nearly in the group with a global average score of 43. Despite having established an institution, set of rules, and model and showing high determination in the fight against corruption, the Communist Party of Vietnam acknowledged that corruption and wastefulness continued to be national issues, posing a threat to the survival of the Party and the socialist regime. This highlights the challenges and urgent requirements for the Party and the political system to combat corruption, wastefulness, and negative phenomena. In which, the most effective method identified by Vietnam is to strengthen solutions to rigorously inspect, supervise, and control the powers of officials and to improve the transparency of the government with citizens.
Countries with strong institutions and well-functioning democracies continued to lead the CPI rankings. Denmark held the top position with a score of 90, followed by Finland and New Zealand with 87 points. The subsequent rankings included Norway (84), Singapore (83), Sweden (83), Switzerland (82), the Netherlands (80), Germany (79), Ireland (77), and Luxembourg (77). Conversely, countries undergoing conflict or those where basic personal and political freedoms were restricted tended to receive the lowest scores. Somalia (12), Syria (13), and South Sudan (13) occupy the bottom positions in the CPI rankings. Venezuela (14), Yemen (16), Libya (17), Haiti (17), Equatorial Guinea (17), and Burundi (17) were among the 10 most corrupt countries. Thus, according to the CPI report, 124 countries showed no progress in combating corruption. Over two-thirds of countries (68%) had scores below 50, and the global average score remained unchanged at 43. According to Transparency International, the CPI indicated that the level of corruption had not improved or had worsened in 86% of countries over the past decade. Over the past five years (2018-2022), only 8 countries significantly improved their scores, while 10 countries experienced sharp declines, including countries with initially high rankings, such as Austria (71), Luxembourg (77), and the United Kingdom (73).
As a result, corruption allows a portion of officials, civil servants, and public employees, who are considered loyal and responsible for serving the people's interests, to abuse their power and use public financial resources and assets for personal gain. From there, they take away responsibilities and undermine the reputation of other genuine officials and civil servants. They destroy institutions that protect citizens, such as national defense and security, and erode the legitimate authority of the Party, the state, and socio-political organizations. Hence, corruption weakens the ability of states to protect their citizens. Additionally, when officials take advantage of power and divert public resources away from the common good to bring about group benefits, it inevitably leads to a loss of trust among the people. If the decline in trust and growing discontent occur concurrently with disparities in political and economic power distribution, they can create conflicts and various interest groups. If disparities in resource distribution occur in provinces, it can lead to dispersion, power reduction, and political instability at the grassroots level.
If corruption increases or goes unchecked, a country's politicians and elites can exert illegitimate influence, sow instability, and weaken government institutions abroad to achieve favorable results. Expansionism and chauvinism, therefore, have a chance to return, leading to the dependence of the corrupt nation on outsiders. From there, corruption threatens the ability of governments to mediate conflicts or negotiate lasting peace. Thus, corruption leads to inequality and differences in living standards between politicians, civil servants, interest groups, and the people, increasing the risk of outbreaks of violence and threatening world peace and security. The basic cause of corruption and its negative consequences come from countries' ineffective control of the power of officials and civil servants. Therefore, countries, including Vietnam, must be determined and make efforts to ensure resources, especially those for inspecting and controlling officials, to eliminate corruption at all levels and ensure that the political system works for the benefit of all people.
2.2. Some solutions to improve the effectiveness of corruption prevention and fighting applied in Vietnam and the world according to Ho Chi Minh's inspection and control methods for the power of officials
Firstly, it is to build a scientific, political system as a foundation for inspecting and controlling the power of officials, ensuring they only serve the public interest. On a global scale, countries tend to adopt two basic models of power control: The first one is a decentralized power model, primarily applied in Western societies and the U.S., and the second one is a centralized power model, mainly applied in Asian societies.
In the centralized power model in some Asian countries, specifically in Vietnam, establishing a system for monitoring and controlling the power of officials and party members who directly guide and implement the policies and directives of the Communist Party of Vietnam is highly emphasized, especially when the rusults from developing a market-oriented socialist economy become complex among officials and party members. The CPI of Vietnam improved proves that the
systems for monitoring and controlling the power of officials in Vietnam are effective in practice. However, the effectiveness of the Party's self-control mechanisms and the oversight activities of other agencies is challenging to achieve breakthroughs when the monitoring and supervisory systems within the Party organization, state agencies, socio-political organizations, judicial bodies, and the media are not comprehensive enough. The coordination among these entities has not ensured the control of officials' power and a balance in the unitary power system. Thus, both models have their positives and negatives. Each country applies mechanisms for inspecting and supervising the power of officials depending on its political culture, level of development, and other specific conditions. However, one thing in common is that the two models need to perfect the democratic institution so that citizens, as subjects outside the political system, can inspect and control the power of officials to whom they entrust power. Therefore, ensuring the people's direct democratic rights to elect and dismiss elected delegates if they corrupt power is the original solution that Ho Chi Minh identifies to control officials. Perfecting this institution has groundbreaking value for both the centralized power model and the decentralized power model. In the centralized power model, the democratic institution that maximizes the people's power, through the principle of concentrated democracy from the bottom up, can create a balance with the principle of concentrated democracy from the top down, protecting the position and interests and promoting the political responsibilities of nonparty members with party members and citizens with officials. In the decentralized power model, the democratic institution is perfected and vigorously promoted by society and citizens, minimizing conflicts between entities in the pluralist power system and ensuring the unity of the system in controlling power over wealthy politicians through a more reasonable and balanced tax policy.
Secondly, the entities responsible for checking and controlling power must have sufficient resources and independence to carry out their tasks. To elevate the credibility, independence, and objectivity of entities responsible for inspecting and overseeing officials' power, the fundamental method highlighted by Ho Chi Minh is to establish a "State's spending regime to create "constraints"" [1, volume XII, p. 466]. According to Ho Chi Minh, this financial regime must bind wasteful officials and those who like to show off. It binds people who only know the immediate affairs without considering the long-term affairs and who only know their department's affairs without recognizing the nation's common interests. It closes all holes and gaps, preventing the country's savings from being lost or scattered. At the same time, Ho Chi Minh affirmed the need to eliminate slush funds in provinces and agencies resolutely. A slush fund is a private fund outside the control of the State. People often spend less and declare more to cut down on public funds. Therefore, for a centralized power model like Vietnam, to form a financial regime, it's needful to address the relationships among the three entities: the Party, the State, and socio-political organizations, between central agencies and local agencies, and between the political system and citizens. At the individual level, it is the relationship between the Party's officials, state agencies, and civil servants. In addition to strengthening ethical education, a crucial measure that Vietnam should implement immediately is to have a policy that provides fair salaries and incomes for the officials and civil servants so that they can consciously control themselves, uphold ethics and integrity when performing public service activities, and prevent corruption and waste for financial resources and public assets. Next, Vietnam needs a transparent and efficient legal system to control the assets and income of people with high positions via measures such as selecting officials with important positions at high risk of corruption. The entity with authority to control must have independent financial mechanisms and specific authority and be protected. There is a public regime for officials' financial and asset declarations to enhance the awareness and responsibility of declarants and mobilize the participation and supervision of the entire society. The coordination regulations between inspection and supervision entities of the Party and State with the national and international banking systems need to be unified, proactive, and flexible. For countries with a decentralized power model, when building financial regimes to control the power of politicians and civil servants, they must focus more on resolving the relationships between politicians, officials, and social organizations (mostly workers belonging to the sections of common people). Accordingly, these countries' financial regimes for politicians and civil servants must focus on perfecting the legal system of finance, including:
- Publicizing information and accountability, declaring assets and income of politicians and civil servants to promote active supervision of citizens.
- Respecting and accepting the results of socio-political organizations and all classes to have a stronger democracy.
- In particular, boosting coordination between the ruling Party and the legislature, executive, and judiciary to handle conflicts while maintaining high dispersion of power. High dispersion of power can lead to excessive independence between subjects when inspecting and monitoring, leading to a lack of information from branches of power and a lack of cost comparison, affecting the balance and effectiveness of controlling the power.
Thirdly, setting role models about ethics, self-criticism, and criticism must be applied and widely publicized to enhance personal accountability and transparency. To increase the ethical responsibility and legal accountability of officials and civil servants holding crucial positions in the political system, the constitutions of Vietnam, Russia, Central European countries, Eastern European countries, Western European countries, and many other countries around the world stipulate that the General Secretary, President, Prime Minister, Ministers, Parliamentarians, and Judges must take the oath with a solemn ceremony. This is a vital method that makes politicians monitor themselves by setting a role model of ethics and creates a political and legal basis for inspection and supervision from other members of the political system, other parties, and citizens. However, to ensure that politicians' commitments are truly effective and regularly measured, each official and politician needs to self-criticize and criticize. With the motto that each official and party member must self-criticize and criticize like "Burn yourself with fire, " the first measure that Ho Chi Minh used was to set an example himself, making officials and party members at all levels and sectors in Vietnam voluntarily follow. Thanks to this, the officials self-monitor their political commitments and adjust unreasonable points, lifting personal transparency and the integrity
of the political party and government. As a result, Vietnam has applied votes of confidence to officials and civil servants effectively. The fight against corruption is also being controlled more strongly and actively.
For countries following the principle of separation of powers, optimality comes from the supervision of members of the ruling system, non-ruling political parties, and civil society organizations. However, to be more objective and control power more strictly, it is necessary to increase public mechanisms and personal responsibility through self-criticism and criticism of politicians and civil servants for the work they undertake. When implementing this solution, each individual needs to have a plan for self-criticism and criticism specifically and periodically according to position, and the time is determined in detail by the political party and public agency. The results of self-criticism and criticism should be measured by the level of corruption control, the performance of administrative reform, and indicators of sustainable social and economic development in the specific fields or regions for which the politicians and officials are responsible. These results should be widely publicized to create positive motivation with external monitoring.
Fourthly, strengthening international cooperation to fight transnational corruption plays a significant part. According to Ho Chi Minh, to inspect and control the power of officials, the political system, led by the ruling Party, must respect and listen to criticism from other nations' Parties and the people. These are two external monitoring entities, influencing, supporting, and requiring internal inspection and supervision methods to comply with the formulas designed to achieve optimal efficiency. Ho Chi Minh's method of promoting the role of citizens and cooperating with other parties worldwide has laid the foundation for Vietnam and other countries under any power model regarding political commitments, legal obligations, and cooperative efforts in the fight against corruption. For this method to be highly effective, Vietnam and other countries must eliminate psychological and historical barriers to negotiating, signing, supporting, and implementing agreements on extradition, transfer of convicted persons, crime prevention, and legal assistance. International agencies such as the United Nations, Interpol, and ASEANPOL need to consult with member countries to renew and complete the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), especially on the requirement to criminalize illegal enrichment of UNCAC, United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Sydney Declaration of APEC, etc. In the context of global political and economic crisis, corruption becomes a factor that threatens security and brings skepticism and instability. Accordingly, preventive measures, criminalization and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, technical support, and information exchange must realize 17 sustainable development goals established and committed to by the United Nations and its member countries. Vietnam has concretized this by proactively building a Provincial Sustainable Development Index (PSDI) to improve the ability to measure the integrity of local officials and civil servants. To prevent and combat corruption on a global scale, countries should develop both bilateral and multilateral democratic institutions, eliminating safe havens to enhance collaboration in all fields and focus on resolving the relationship between politicians and businesses so that each country can minimize corruption in personnel work, laws, and public policies. It is significant to develop a set of criteria and measures to inspect and control corruption by region and province, improve the relationship between politicians and citizens, build a service-oriented government, and legislate access to information to increase the ability of international organizations, people, and social organizations to supervise public activities. Conclusion
Ho Chi Minh's ideology on inspection and control methods for officials is vital for all power models. In Vietnam, these methods are the foundation and guideline for inspecting and supervising officials' power. The control of power, specifically preventing corruption, is effectively implemented. Vietnam and many countries worldwide have made great achievements in realizing sustainable development goals. Nevertheless, to build better democracies, it is essential to prioritize achieving the goal of "Peace, justice, and strong institutions." Institutions and sets of rules that are harmoniously coordinated based on understanding and listening will contribute to providing rights and access responsibilities and requesting citizens to participate in oversight. From there, it helps countries make improvements and breakthroughs in controlling corruption, promote peaceful societies, and integrate for sustainable development.
References / Список литературы
1. Ho Chi Minh. Complete Works. Hanoi: National Political Publishing House, 2011.
2. Newspaper of The Government Inspectorate of Vietnam. Corruption Perception Index 2022: Vietnam continued to increase its score and belonged to the group of countries with outstanding progress (updated on January 31, 2023). Url: https://thanhtra.com.vn/quoc-te/chi-so-cam-nhan-tham-nhung-2022-viet-nam-tiep-tuc-tang-diem-thuoc-nhom-nuoc-co-tien-bo-noi-bat-206757.html
