Silence is golden: Vietnam legislature session closes early as lawmakers say nothing at all
Tuesday, June 09, 2015, 12:47 GMT+7
The Tuesday morning discussion session of the Vietnamese legislature concluded almost two hours earlier than scheduled in an unprecedented decision, as none of the attending lawmakers wanted to say anything about supervision programs for next year.
>> An audio version of the story is available here
Huynh Ngoc Son, deputy chairman of the law-making National Assembly, at first did not know what to do with the tight-lipped lawmakers, who were attending the legislature’s 9th sitting in Hanoi.
Son, who chaired today’s discussion session, was confused and paused for a while before deciding to dismiss the meeting ahead of schedule.
Lawmakers did not make any response other than to pack their stuff and leave the National Assembly House at 9:15 am, instead of 11:00 am.
The incident was unprecedented in the history of nine sittings of the current 13th National Assembly.
In the previous discussions, there were so many lawmakers who wanted to voice their opinions that there was not enough time for all to speak.
Vietnamese legislators were supposed to discuss a tentative plan for the National Assembly’s supervision programs for 2016 during the Tuesday meeting.
The programs include the implementation of the National New Style Rural Area Building Campaign for the 2010-15 period and the development orientation for science and technology in 2015-25.
The National Assembly Economic Committee is expected to be tasked with supervising the first program, and the second one, the Committee for Science, Technology, and Environment.
But none of the lawmakers wanted to offer opinions on these matters, so no specific committee has been assigned to any of the programs.
Nguyen Hanh Phuc, chairman of the National Assembly Office, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper after the unprecedented incident that it was important that the deputies give feedback on the plans.
Phuc was the person to present the tentative programs before the lawmakers and asked for their comments to start the discussion this morning.
“The National Assembly committees to be tasked with watching over the programs must be carefully chosen to ensure their feasibility,” Phuc said.
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
