In one of the writings for the celebration of 69th anniversary of August Revolution in 2014, President Truong Tan Sang claimed "It's concerning and heart-breaking when the saying 'relative first, money second, relationship third, intelligence fourth’ is still going around to describe the employment process at state offices.

Ministry of Affairs' employment test in 2013

After every five-year term, key leaders are replaced, meaning subordinate positions will also be replaced with their trusted followers. And the concerns about the process have been increasingly aired.

On February 20, an article published on the Voice of Vietnam, stated, "It's widely known that people don't trust state employment process even though the examinations are announced publicly and in accordance with the procedures. It may be public, but it isn’t necessarily transparent."

It's not hard to understand why people distrust all state examinations and the "in accordance with the procedures" explanation which is often used to cover up everything. The examinations are often said to have strict rules to be transparent. But when the results are announced, most of the names on the list have inside acquaintances.

It's no different than match fixing problem in football and boxing. The results are already agreed and other people became extras in the performance. But at least all of these plays are publicised to audience, the same thing cannot be said for state examinations.

Last year, the inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed to cancel the results of the employment tests to the Market Control Department as six tests did not include public recruitment notices and the content in recruitment notices of 11 tests lacked information. Many people said the tests reeked of money and only for ones born with silver spoons in their mouth.

And this match-fixing problem supposedly is only to be found in state offices as Pham Vu Luan, minister of education, said, "Only state offices select wrong personnel and degree holders; there's no such problem in private sector."

A lack of transparency means bad quality civil servants. These people will not be able to do their work or understand the ideas of other people that have brighter minds. It will come to the worst if these people hold high power and become obstacles for the country's development.

In addition, if they have to bribe to get the jobs then their first and foremost aims are to make a profit from their positions. This means making a profit from the public. They may not be able to bring in any benefits for the community but excel in earning profits for themselves.

Dinh Xuan Thao, head of the NA's Legislative Research Institute, said wrongdoings in the state employment process were a type of corruption. Those discovered should be punished for corruption then transparency could be improved.