State Agencies Should Learn from Dong Tam Land Dispute: Vietnam President

Defend the Defenders, April 27, 2017

The land dispute in Dong Tam commune with hostage of many state officials and policemen is a valuable lesson for state management, said Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang at a meeting with voters in Ho Chi Minh City on April 26.

Vietnam’s state agencies should understand the real causes of the incident so they can take proper measures to prevent and deal with it, said Quang, who is a former minister of Public Security.

State agencies need to listen to people and understand them as well as explain the state policies to them in a bid to prevent similar cases, the president said one week after the farmers in Dong Tam and the government in Hanoi successfully ended the standoff in which local residents took 38 officials and policemen in hostage for seven days.

Quang is the first Vietnamese senior leader to speak about the Dong Tam incident. So far, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, top legislator Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and communist leader Nguyen Phu Trong have yet to comment on the case.