Thoroughly understanding the importance of disciplining to the success of the unit’s task implementation, for recent years, the Regiment No.8 (under Division No.395, Military Region No.3) has paid special attention to law dissemination and education, considering it as an important measure and the base for improving the understanding and awareness of each officer and soldier of state law observation. At the same time, it can generate positive changes to legal environment for them to well recognize their responsibilities as servicemen and civilians, thus contributing to their self-improvement, the enhancement of combined quality and combat strengths, and the building of an all strong unit.
The Regiment’s Party Committee and Command always pay due attention to the leadership and serious implementation of the law dissemination and education – taking account of necessary focuses and practical situation of each organs and units – to make it deeper, more substantial and effective. Given the fact that law dissemination and education is difficult to both teachers and learners, it would be formal and ineffective unless it is given adequate and clear instructions while the Party Committee and leaders at all levels enhance their awareness of and determination on it. Accordingly, this requirement has been included in annual resolutions from Regiment’s to lower level Party Committees. Organs and units, in their plans, determine the guidelines, objectives, contents, dates, groups of learners and the ways to disseminate and educate laws. Besides, the activities have been conducted in connection with political education and the implementation of “Determined to win” and “Promoting traditions, devoting talents, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” movements. During the implementation, the organs and units regularly carry out reviews to make adjustments and complements to contents and methods of law dissemination and education in order to make it suitable to practical situation of each period. At the same time, leaders, especially the key ones, are considered being responsible for the results, which are among the criteria in classifying Party members and organs at the end of each year.
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| A tactical training session of the Company No.2, Battalion No.4, Regiment No.8 |
Given the fact that most the Regiment’s personnel is non-commissioned officers and soldiers, who are dynamic and inquisitive, yet different in knowledge levels, the Regiment conducts the law dissemination and education following the motto: “easy to remember, understand and observe”. Towards this end, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command require subordinate units’ dissemination plans to be comprehensive, yet have focuses suitable to each groups of learners. The plans should reserve more time for the issues directly related to their cadres and soldiers, such as policies of health insurance for military personnel, the Law of Military Service, the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Vietnamese laws related to the counter to tortures and human rights in military, issues concerning ethnic and religious situations, social security, adversaries’ plots and measures against our government, etc. Basing on the topics for law dissemination and education required by agencies of upper levels, teachers of law in all units have designed their lecture, questions and answers to be brief, straightforward and close to living situations so that they are easy for their officers and soldiers to learn.
It is the diversification of the way in which the law dissemination and education is conducted that is the distinctive feature of the Regiment’s work. Apart from the required methods, the Regiment specially emphasizes visual activities to educate its soldiers in the way that is comfortable and easy for them to understand. Activities “One question of law a day”, “An article of law a week”, “The soldiers’ law club” and “The day of law” have been carried out regularly and shown substantial effectiveness. Bulletin boards, banners, posters are put in the central or conspicuous places to disseminate basic information of law. Moreover, other activities such as “Incorporating information of law into plays”, “The youth with regulation building and principle observation training” forum, law contests, among many others, have been conducted with diversified topics and models and clear orientations to make the information of law easier to learn, thereby attracting a large number of officers and soldiers to participate. Through those activities, laws have been being brought into daily life, creating the habit of “living and working in accordance with Constitution and laws” for the Regiment’s officers and soldiers.
With a clear understanding of the boom of cyber space and its strong and multidimensional impacts, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have demanded its subordinate units to intensify their education and propagation to improve their officers and soldiers’ awareness of and obedience to state laws and the Military and units’ principles related to Internet using, especially social networks, which are a virtual environment that is very complicated, unpredictable and accessible to smart phone users. Therefore, officers and soldiers are easily to violate laws and military regulations for using the Internet unless they are provided with necessary knowledge. Accordingly, to help their officers and soldiers clearly understand and strictly observe related rules, the units have enhanced their propagation of the regulations for using the Internet and social networks stated in the Decree 174/2013/NĐ-CP on the administrative violations in postal service, telecommunication, information technology and radio frequency, and the Regulation on the Management, Provision and Using of Internet services in the Vietnam People’s Army (attached to the Decree 110/2014/TT-BQP, dated August 22nd 2014, by the Minister of Defence). The focus is that officers and soldiers must not provide, exchange the information that is classified as state, military or defence secrets via the Internet. They are prohibited from creating accounts on and posting their personal information as military personnel to websites and social networks; sharing misleading information and information from false name and reactionary websites or pages; drafting and saving military documents on the Internet connected computers and devices, etc. Moreover, they have been proactively and opportunely updated and educated on Internet and social network-related crimes. The Regiment has also required its organs and units to educate their officers and soldiers on the consequences of illegal lottery, gambling and betting through various technologies, and to impose heavy punishments on players.
The Regiment has paid due attention to the arrangements to make the law dissemination and education highly effective. First, it has emphasized the staff building for these activities as they are the key element that decides the results. Every year, the Regiment picks up the cadres who are good at education and propagation, and enthusiastic and responsible in doing their jobs to organize a law educating group. They also require subordinate units to fulfill all vacant positions in the groups of political teachers and editorial boards of “One question of law a day”. Furthermore, many training courses have been organized to improve cadres’ knowledge, pedagogic methods, especially teaching skills and information technology skills, etc. These measures have helped enhance the knowledge as well as the teaching abilities of relevant cadres.
The Regiment has proactively overcome difficulties related to funds and infrastructure and upgraded its reading rooms and bought law books for its subordinate units. Apart from receiving law books from higher agencies (including 4 sorts of books, newspapers and documents of law as required by the General Department of Politics), the Regiment has bought and acquired other law books and newspapers for its officers and soldiers to learn. Bulletin boards, banners, posters, etc. are regularly updated to have new designs, which are attractive and suitable to the contents in each period. To enhance the effectiveness of the internal radio, the Regiment has acquired sophisticated computers with recording softwares to make the audio reports more attractive and to facilitate the broadcast of repeated reports as well as to provide the reports to the units stationing far from the Regiment headquarters.
To further elevate the effectiveness of the law dissemination and education, the Regiment conducts the job in close connection with the personnel management, principle supervision and regulation building in each unit. The Regiment’s Party Committee and Command required all units to remain their daily and weekly routines as well as military principles. The units are also demanded to renovate their working methods and styles; strictly follow the rules of smoking, motorbike and cell phone using, etc. Their activities are managed closely at anytime and anywhere, especially small groups far from their camps and those doing public relations. Besides, military police are encouraged to intensify their activities to ensure principle obedience. Whenever rule violations take place, the leadership of the unit(s) is expected to present credible reports and not to cover the cases, but to make them clear and blame faults on the exact ones who committed them and the units where the cases happened. The Regiment’s Party Committee and Command required its cadres at all levels to thoroughly know the profile, family background and relations of each subordinate soldiers, particularly new enlistees; understand their thoughts and help them tackle emerging problems to keep their minds on their tasks.
With due attention, comprehensive and practical measures, for recent years, the law dissemination and education in the Regiment No. 8 has made noticeable contributions to the improvement of its officers’ and soldiers’ awareness of and obedience to the state laws and military disciplines. As a result, the Regiment witnesses no major principle violation and its percentage of minor ones has decreased to under 0.2% in recent years. These results have contributed to the Regiment’s title of strong and pure Party Committee and made the Regiment an all strong, and the leading unit in the “Determine to win” movement of the Division.
Lt. Col. Nguyen Huy Phu, Regiment’s Commissar