Thursday, July 20, 2017, 15:27 (GMT+7)
Greater importance to be attached to internal political protection in the new situation

The work of internal political protection serves as a matter of importance to the Party, State, socio-political organizations in general and cadres and Party members in particular. Amidst current complicated global developments, greater importance should be attached to this work.

Over the past years, due attention has been paid to the work of internal political protection by the Central Military Commission, Ministry of National Defense, General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA), and executive party committees at all levels. Agencies for internal political protection have always firmly grasped the situation, offering valuable suggestions to executive party committees and military commanders at all levels, thereby foiling the sabotage plots by hostile forces against the VPA, contributing to making the VPA’s affiliates clean and strong, maintaining law and order and ensuring national security.

However, some military units have still witnessed regrettable incidents pertaining to the work of internal political protection. A section of servicemen and servicewomen have not exercised vigilance against sabotage plots by hostile forces. Some of them recklessly posted erroneous information and tarnished images online, which has molded negative public opinions and colored the VPA’s internal politics, prestige and glorious traditions.

Those shortcomings mainly result from that some military units have paid undue attention to the work of internal political protection, especially at grassroots level. The management of servicemen and servicewomen’s morale and emotions has yet to be prudently handled. The coordination between relevant agencies has not been close enough when it comes to the work of internal political protection. A number of servicemen and servicewomen have attached little importance to the self-improvement of political awareness, virtue, lifestyle and discipline, lacking vigilance against unsavory incidents. Prevention efforts against sabotage plots by hostile forces and evil elements, to a greater or lesser degree, have yet to pay off.

Advantages and disadvantages are intertwined when it comes to Vietnam’s military build-up and Homeland protection. Hostile forces continue to promote “peaceful evolution”, “self-evolution”, “self-transformation” and “military depoliticization”. Weaknesses and shortcomings in Party building, which have been enshrined in the Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee’s 4th plenum, including the degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle; corruption, wastefulness and social evils, have undermined people’s trust in the Party and State, endangering the Party’s leadership and the regime’s survival. Against this backdrop, greater importance should be attached to the work of internal political protection, with a focus on the followings:

1. Firmly grasping and effectively implementing resolutions, directives and regulations by the Party, State, Central Military Commission, Ministry of National Defense and General Department of Politics, on the work of internal political protection. The Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee’s 4th plenum on Party building and rectification, averting manifestations of “self-evolution”, “self-transformation” inside the Party should be implemented in tandem with Directive 05-CT/TW by the Politburo (12th tenure) and Directive 87-CT/QUTW by the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission on “Acceleration of studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality and lifestyle”. Attention should be paid to making Party organizations clean and strong, exercising criticism and self-criticism, maintaining intra-Party discipline and order, and strictly abiding by do’s and don’ts by Party members. Also, emphasis should be placed on the management and education of cadres and Party members, and timely prevention of manifestations of factionism, localism and internal disunity. This is of paramount importance, laying a foundation for executive party committees and military commanders at all levels to effectively implement the work of internal political protection in the new situation.

2. Promoting political and ideological education and awareness among servicemen and servicewomen about the work of internal political protection. It should be noted that effectively implementing the work of internal political protection is one of the keys to making executive Party committees, Party organizations and military units within the VPA comprehensively clean and strong. Education activities related to the work of internal political protection should be regularly reformed while vigilance should be raised in order to foil sabotage plots by hostile forces and evil elements. Moreover, the work of internal political protection should be across the board, not peculiar to security officers.

3. Enhancing the leadership of executive Party committees, military commanders and political commissars at all levels as decisive factors in the work of internal political protection. Focus should be on internal political management, including uncovering and pre-empting negative practices inside military units; the work of internal political protection should be conducted in tandem with inspection and supervision so as to opportunely uncover and deal with misdeeds. Regulations should be strictly observed on the purity of internal politics. At the same time, vigilance should be raised among servicemen and servicewomen against plots of infiltration and lure by hostile forces. Regulations should be strictly observed on guarding secrets, especially military and State ones when it comes to internet service and information technology devices. It is a must for soldiers to be discouraged from accessing websites with reactionary, erroneous contents, from posting online information pertaining to and images of their military unit’s internal affairs. Executive Party committees, military commanders and political commissars at all levels should concentrate on greater awareness among soldiers in the face of erroneous information which besets the VPA’s glorious traditions and prestige. Executive Party committees, military commanders and political commissars at all levels should keep superiors informed of any distorted information pertaining to and tarnished images of the VPA available online, closely coordinating with relevant agencies to opportunely deal with the problem, thereby averting evil elements’ propaganda against the Party, State, VPA and great national unity.

4. Closely connecting the work of internal political protection and making military units safe with making safe military units -stationed localities. Military units should closely and proactively cooperate with local authorities to firmly grasp sabotage plots by hostile forces and evil elements in their stationed localities, thereby ensuring political security, and social order and safety. Plans and measures should be prepared to opportunely handle possible incidents, especially sensitive issues and whereabouts on which hostile forces’ sabotage plots focus in order to incite division, internal disunity and disunity between the military and the people. Political and ideological education and awareness among servicemen and servicewomen should be promoted so that they can raise their vigilance against sabotage plots by hostile forces and strictly comply with regulations on guarding secrets. Military units should properly enforce regulations on defense diplomacy activities, obediently follow procedures for sending cadres abroad, strictly abide by regulations on guarding State and military secrets, thereby foiling the plots by hostile forces and evil elements to infiltrate, lure and incite internal disunity. Tough disciplinary measures should be imposed on individuals who go abroad without superiors’ consent or make contacts with foreigners against the VPA’s regulations.

The work of internal political protection serves as a matter of urgency and paramount importance to making the VPA strong politically, ideologically and organizationally, worthy of being the core force in safeguarding the Party, State and people, greatly contributing to the cause of national construction and protection in the new situation.

Sr. Col. Duong Duc Thien, Director of the Bureau of Military Security

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