Vietnam's laid-off communist officials face uncertain future
HANOI: Sipping green tea in his garden of roses, ex-communist party official Nguyen Van Cuong says he is 'jobless but happy' after Vietnam cut 80,000 state roles this week. But fretting at home after leaving public employment once considered a job-for-life, Nguyen Thi Thu told AFP she feels 'empty' over a future that is no longer certain. Vietnam is in the midst of a dramatic remaking of its state apparatus, with 100,000 positions slated to be scrapped as Hanoi seeks to streamline bureaucracy and boost the economy.
On Monday, 80,000 roles were slashed as most of the Southeast Asian nation's provinces and cities were merged. Feelings are mixed among newly unemployed apparatchiks - communist party officials whose jobs were once guaranteed. 'It's really a waste for the state to lose one like myself,' said 56-year-old Cuong, who served in Bac Giang province outside Hanoi. Bac Giang was merged into a neighboring province's administration.
The government said those caught in the overhaul would either be made redundant or offered early retirement. Cuong told AFP he could have remained in his post - or even been promoted - but chose to accept a $75,000 payoff for his remaining six years after a 30-year state career. 'It's time to rid myself of so much complexity in state politics,' he said. The mass reorganization overseen by Vietnam's top leader To Lam echoes steps taken by US President Donald Trump and Argentine leader Javier Milei to take an axe to government spending towards 'efficiency'.
Former district-level secretary Thu admits she may not have been able to manage the burdens of the job as management prioritized performance. The 50-year-old felt she had no option but to resign when her office was relocated to the Mekong delta province of An Giang, more than 70 kilometers from her home. 'I resigned, not because I wanted to quit my job,' Thu said. 'It's better to resign rather than waiting for a dismissal order.' Vietnam - a global manufacturing hub - recorded economic growth of 7.1 percent last year and is aiming for eight percent this year as it vies for 'middle-income country' status by 2030.
But the country is facing headwinds from key trade partner the United States. Trump threatened a 46 percent tariff before settling on a 20 percent rate in a deal announced on Wednesday - a levy five times the rate before he took office the second time. Vietnam's deputy finance minister said the new administrative structure would bring 'strong scale to connect strong business and economic infrastructure' and create 'greater socio-economic development'.
Lam, the Communist Party general secretary, said Monday that 'the decision to reshape the nation is a historical landmark with strategic meaning' aiming 'to continue our path towards a socialist country... for people's happiness'. But for Thu, the way forward is now unclear. 'I don't know what to do next,' she said. Scrolling carefree on his phone and chatting with friends online, Cuong said he had few regrets over his voluntary redundancy. He feels like Vietnam may be the one missing out on what he has to offer. 'I could still contribute more to the state sector,' he said.- AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
12 minutes ago
- Arab Times
Will prosperity come with peace?
During the presidency of John F. Kennedy, the United States, fearing the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, deployed military advisors to support South Vietnam, a Western ally, against North Vietnam, which was aligned with the communist regimes of China and the Soviet Union. The situation escalated following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964, when American ships were attacked in what many later considered a premeditated act. In response, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy's successor, was granted extensive military authority to confront North Vietnam. By 1969, U.S. troop numbers in Vietnam had increased to over half a million. However, faced with mounting human and financial losses, as well as increasing domestic and international opposition to the war, the United States was ultimately forced to withdraw. U.S. forces eventually withdrew, transferring defense responsibilities to the South Vietnamese government. Peace negotiations between North Vietnam and the United States began in Paris and lasted several years, ultimately culminating in a humiliating and unprecedented American withdrawal. Decades later, a similar scene would unfold in Afghanistan. The Vietnamese capital, Saigon, eventually fell to communist forces from the North. The toll on the United States was staggering. Over 58,000 American soldiers lost their lives in the last four years of the war, and the financial costs were immense. Upon their return, many veterans struggled with severe psychological trauma, and American society became deeply divided. Public opposition to the war intensified, triggering widespread social unrest. The war's failure also marked the end of President Johnson's political career. The Vietnamese had previously resisted invasions by France, then Japan, then France again, followed by the United States, and finally China. Despite the loss of five million of its citizens, Vietnam remained steadfast. During the final phase of the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975, the United States lost over 58,000 soldiers, with more than 150,000 wounded. On the Vietnamese side, two million civilians and one million soldiers were killed. The war also witnessed widespread use of landmines, radioactive materials, and chemical agents whose harmful effects lingered for decades. According to a Harvard University study, the war resulted in ten million refugees, one million widows, 880,000 orphaned children, 362,000 children without one parent, and three million unemployed individuals. By the end of the war, inflation in Vietnam had skyrocketed to 900 percent. In the aftermath, Washington imposed a boycott on Vietnam and refused to deal with its communist government. However, the two countries began a slow process of normalization in the mid-1990s. The United States covers an area of approximately 10 million square kilometers, while Vietnam covers just 331,000 square kilometers. It was only half that size at the time it, being one of the poorest nations, went to war with America, which was the most powerful and wealthy nation in history. The struggles of Vietnam, South Africa, Algeria, and even Afghanistan stand as powerful examples of resilience in the face of overwhelming force. Similarly, the Palestinian resistance, in all its forms, offers valuable lessons that deserve careful study. Total surrender to Israel, as some advocates suggest, would bring consequences far more severe than many can imagine. Several Arab countries have normalized relations with Israel in hopes of achieving peace, cooperation, and prosperity. Yet, after more than two decades, these nations have seen little in the way of tangible benefits.
Kuwait Times
an hour ago
- Kuwait Times
Who makes laundry smell nice? Meet the professional ‘noses'
In the laboratories of German fragrance and flavors giant Symrise, a citrus scent clings to the lab coats of trainees -- 'noses' who are learning the art of making things smell good. These busy heroes of the world of smells and aromas shape the connection millions of consumers have with everyday items. While at high-end perfume labels, olfactory artists create scents for luxury body sprays, Symrise's experts work on everyday products that might range from mint-flavored toothpaste to barbeque chips. Smell, a powerful sense that can trigger emotions and memories, and aroma often decide which food or beverage, cleaning or personal hygiene product ends up in the shopping cart. At Symrise's headquarters in Holzminden, a quiet town south of Hanover, each day at the company's in-house perfumery school begins the same way: sniffing out scents from dozens of tiny bottles while blindfolded. 'It's just like tuning a musical instrument before you play,' said Alicia De Benito Cassado, a 32-year-old former professional pianist from Spain. Her career switch into scent development was a natural step: she made her own perfumes as a teenager to match the poetry and music that she wrote. 'For me, not everything has to smell good,' she said. 'The horror of smell also helps us discover ourselves.' But commercial clients demand something different, De Benito Cassado added. 'In the end, we need to create scents that are strong, beautiful, powerful -- and affordable.' A perfume oil formula is produced in a mixing room at the Symrise company in Holzminden, central Germany. Vials containing dissolved raw materials used to develop perfume oil formulas are seen in a mixing room at the Symrise company. Junior perfumer Attiya Setai prepares a perfume oil formula in a mixing room at the Symrise company. Junior perfumers (from left) Attiya Setai, Shangyun Lyu and Alicia de Benito Cassado hold smell strips which are used to evaluate fragrances in a mixing room at the Symrise company, where perfume oil formulas are developed, in Holzminden, central Germany.--AFP photos Production supervisor Uwe Gross closes a mixing container at the Symrise company. Raw material is weighed in a vial on a scale to produce a perfume oil formula in a mixing room at the Symrise company. Junior perfumer Shangyun Lyu smells a smell strip which is used to evaluate fragrances at the Symrise company. Professional sniffers Being a 'nose' is a full-time job and comes with a three-year training program. The smell of a fabric softener can be composed of 80 compounds, far more than in a premium body perfume, and the best noses can make out over 1,000 different odors while blindfolded. Shangyun Lyu, 31, came from China to study at the school and says that a professional sniffer can get by with knowing about 500 scents. Being able to break down odors into their chemical components is key. 'As a kid, I just smelled jasmine or gardenia as flowers,' he said. 'Now, I recognize the chemicals: it's a blend of many elements.' Students weigh ingredients down to the milligram, mix, smell, and start over, often by replicating existing smells to understand their structure and then innovate from there. 'When developing perfume, it is very important that several people smell it,' said 56-year-old master perfumer Marc vom Ende, head of the school. 'We all perceive smell differently.' 'Nose has the final say' Pleasant smells cannot come at any cost, and the rules of the game change over time. Lilial, a chemical once prized for its floral and sweet Lily-of-the-Valley notes, has been banned in the European Union since 2022 over fears it can cause skin irritation and damage the reproductive system. Fragrances applied directly to the body have stricter regulations than detergents, said 27-year-old South African trainee Attiya Setai. 'We're more restricted in raw materials and must replace banned ingredients with new compliant ones,' she said. Tastes also vary across global markets, with Shangyun pointing to the example of Chinese shampoos that sell well with a young clientele there but would struggle in Europe. 'Something old-fashioned in one country can be new elsewhere,' he said. Cost also enters the equation. Symrise extracts aromatic compounds from wood resin, a by-product of the paper industry, in a move 'that makes both economic and environmental sense', said vom Ende. It is hard to be a nose. About 500 perfumers work in the industry and 80 of them at Symrise, which has a workforce of 13,000. The company markets about 30,000 products to clients ranging from confectioners to pet food manufacturers and suncream makers. Symrise's competitors include DSM-Firmenich, headquartered in both Switzerland and the Netherlands, as well as Givaudan, another Swiss firm. Artificial intelligence increasingly plays a role, with computer programs predicting which fragrances will hit the mark. Still, the machines cannot -- yet -- smell, even if they can understand speech and read text. 'We're supported by AI,' vom Ende said. 'But the nose has the final say'.—AFP
Kuwait Times
3 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Somalia donors losing faith as Al-Shabaab insurgency surges
Govt faces a perfect storm of declining global support and demoralized army NAIROBI: Despite billions of dollars in international support, Somalia's army has melted in the face of a months-long offensive by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab insurgency, and donors are running out of patience. Using hundreds of fighters and a vehicle packed with explosives for a suicide attack, Al-Shabaab retook the town of Moqokori on July 7, the latest in a wave of defeats this year for the government. It has given them a strategic geographical position to launch attacks into the Hiiraan region, but it was also a powerful symbolic victory over a local clan militia that had been the government's 'best fighting force' against Al-Shabaab, according to Omar Mahmood of the International Crisis Group. Somalia's government has been battling the Islamist militant group since the mid-2000s and its fortunes have waxed and waned, but now faces a perfect storm of declining international support, a demoralized army and political infighting. The government relied on local militias, known as 'Macwiisley', for a successful campaign in 2022-23, taking some 200 towns and villages from Al-Shabaab. But the insurgents' counter-offensive this year has seen them regain some 90 percent of their lost territory, estimates Rashid Abdi of Sahan Research, a think tank. Towns that were supposed models of stabilization, like Masaajid Cali Gaduud and Adan Yabal, have fallen. Three bridges along the Shebelle River, crucial to military supply lines, have been destroyed. 'The whole stretch from the north-west to the south-west of Mogadishu is now controlled largely by Al-Shabaab,' Abdi told AFP. The Macwiisley campaign collapsed, he said, because the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, known as HSM, 'was extremely inept at working with the clans', empowering some and not others based on political favoritism rather than military needs. 'The mobilization went well when the president came from Mogadishu to start the first phase of the offensive (in 2022). Everybody was heavily involved in the fighting... assisting the national army,' Mohamed Hassan, a local militia member in Hiiraan, told AFP. 'It's no longer the same because the leadership are no longer involved and there seems to be disorganization in how the community militias are mobilized,' he added. The Somali National Army has done little to stem the insurgents, unsurprising for a force 'still in development mode while trying to fight a war at the same time,' said Mahmood, the analyst. Its most effective arm, the US-trained 'Danab' commando unit, is better at killing militants than holding territory, and has suffered demoralizing losses to its officer corps, added Abdi. 'We are beginning to see an army that is not just dysfunctional, but losing the will to actually fight,' he said. The problems stem from the wider chaos of Somali politics, in which a kaleidoscope of clan demands have never resolved into anything like a national consensus. The government has vowed a renewed military push, but President Mohamud's focus has been on holding the country's first-ever one-man, one-vote election next year. That 'will not happen', said a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Even in Mogadishu, where security is strongest, 'any polling station would get bombed,' he said. 'It's unfortunate that attention was shifted towards insignificant political-related matters which do not help security instead of focusing on strengthening the armed forces,' ex-president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed recently told reporters. Al-Shabaab has not launched a full assault on the capital, but has repeatedly demonstrated its presence. Pot-shots targeting the airport are at an all-time high, said the diplomat, and Mohamud narrowly survived an attack on his convoy outside the presidential palace in March. The group also controls much of the economy. 'It out-taxes the state. Its business tentacles spread everywhere,' said Abdi. 'It is one of the wealthiest insurgencies in Africa.' Meanwhile, the government's foreign backers are losing patience. The European Union and United States have poured well over $7 billion into Somali security — primarily various African Union-led missions — since 2007, according to the EU Institute for Security Studies. The previous AU mission ended in December, but had to be immediately replaced with a new one — with the quip-generating acronym AUSSOM — because Somali forces were still not ready to take over. — AFP
