Many Vietnamese parliamentarians have requested that the Law on Demonstrations be approved next year as a useful legal instrument to contribute to ensuring social order and security. They made the request at the Wednesday meeting of the ongoing ninth session of the 13th National Assembly (NA) that started in Hanoi on May 20. At the meeting, deputies discussed the NA’s law-making program for 2016 and changes which need to be made for 2015. Regarding the Demonstrations Bill, Tran Ngoc Vinh, a deputy from the northern city of Hai Phong, suggested that the government present the draft law to the NA for discussion at its 10th session in November so that the legislature can approve it in the 11th session in March 2016. Such a process will ensure the bill can be enacted within the next year, Vinh said. Agreeing with Vinh, Truong Trong Nghia, from the Ho Chi Minh City delegation, said, “It would be better that the NA should discuss the bill at its 10th sitting and approve it in the following session.”  Dang Ngoc Tung, president of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, and Tran Thi Quoc Khanh, a Hanoi deputy, also said they agreed with the suggestion that the Bill on Demonstrations be effective in 2016. “In the context that China has committed wrongdoings that violated our country’s sovereignty, many people want to express their patriotism and aspirations,” Tung said. Therefore, upon enactment, the Law on Demonstrations will serve as a legal framework for people to show their feelings and expectations, he added. The NA Standing Committee said the draft law is part of the lawmaking that realizes Article 25 of the Constitution, so it should be adopted soon. However, based on the actual preparations for the bill to be considered and approved, the committee proposed that the NA postpone the government’s presentation of the bill until the 11th session. In talking with Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper on the sidelines of the meeting, deputy Vinh said, “We want to the Law on Demonstrations to be brought into life soon to present the spirit of the 2003 Constitution and match common trends around the world.”

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