In the middle of the road, people talk about things

Even while leading the resistance war against France, President Ho Chi Minh devoted his efforts to writing the work "Reforming the way of working" (completed in October 1947, signed XYZ, first printed by Truth Publishing House in 1948, 100 pages thick).

77 years have passed, re-reading that work still shows many diseases in the Party that need to be constantly recognized and treated, such as: bragging, subjectivity, selfishness, greed for fame and position, formalism, localism, distance from the masses, lack of discipline, corruption, carelessness, laziness, etc.

Regarding the sense of responsibility, we can cite two types of diseases that President Ho Chi Minh pointed out that are still seen here and there in the political system.

Example of laziness: “Considering oneself to be good at everything, knowing everything. Lazy to learn, lazy to think. Taking easy tasks for oneself. Pushing difficult tasks to others. Finding ways to avoid dangerous situations.”

Or like the disease of “all talk but no action”: “Doing impractical work, not starting from the root, not starting from the bottom up. Doing things just for the sake of doing them. Doing little and almost making it seem like a lot, to make a report to show off, but when you look closely, it’s empty.”

Thus, the manifestations of the disease of avoiding and shirking public responsibilities have appeared and been identified early. The problem is that now, from the Party Central Committee to the localities, this disease is spreading and recurring, so it is urgent to find a way to cure it.

Quang Nam Provincial Party Committee has also just held a conference to disseminate information to party members of the entire Party Committee, thereby pointing out 12 groups of phenomena/manifestations that need to be overcome (readers can find out detailed content from the topics reflected in Quang Nam Newspaper).

Political words and terms mentioned in the specialized reports of Party committees related to the disease of shirking responsibility and shirking public duties can all be synthesized and studied.

Here I just want to mention that both inside and outside the party have this disease, and the people have been talking about it for a long time. Now, in the middle of the road, seeing the incident, the people have the opportunity to discuss it again, using quite sharp colloquialisms and idioms.

The expression "talking like a dragon, working like a vomiting cat" is a way of criticizing those who talk too much and do too little, talk too much, boast, and do not match their actions.

Such as the expression “no one cries for public property”, referring to those who are busy with their own affairs, lazy with public affairs, and irresponsible to the community. Worse, if they see personal gain, they will act in the style of “eating from the tree that they protect”.

Such as “avoiding the heavy and seeking the light”, that is, avoiding the responsibility and duty to do, pushing, pushing up or down the work that should be done. And when there is no way to avoid it, “easy to do, hard to give up”, doing anything is “whether it is possible or not” regardless of the result.

Such as “beating the drum and abandoning the drumstick”, doing things half-heartedly, lacking responsibility, leaving things unfinished. The result is many “unfinished” things. Even without corruption or selfishness, wasting time still causes a lot of damage to the state and society.

The disease of shirking public responsibilities can be identified in many other ways, but the government has a set of tools to measure the symptoms. For example, using the satisfaction index of the people can diagnose this disease in reverse.

For Quang Nam, the measure of people's and organizations' evaluation of the service of State administrative agencies through the provision of public administrative services - the SIPAS index, in 2023 ranked 59th out of 63 provinces and cities, showing a very high warning level regarding public service responsibilities.

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