In recent discussions at the ongoing National Assembly (NA) session, they expressed their unease over the inclusion of information about high-level leaders and land in a bill on protection of state secrets. Under article 7 of the bill, personal information about Party leadership, information about national defense, land, geology, sea, industry, trade and other subjects can be classified as confidential information. NA deputies said this was too broad based, with several subjects not related to the state. Truong Trong Nghia, a deputy from Ho Chi Minh City, said “it will do more harm than good” when domestic and foreign policies, which should be disseminated publicly along with a lot of information not related to the state, are now deemed confidential information. “The government should disseminate and popularize the family background and leadership career of national leaders so that people can learn from them. Additionally, database of the financial and banking sector need to be public information in many instances, but this bill classifies all of this,” Nghia said. He proposed that the definition of confidential information and state secrets be clarified first. “If this bill is passed, it could prove contentious and have unexpected and negative consequences,” he said. The HCMC delegate supported his argument with his own experience in searching for information about Vietnam. Because Vietnam restricts access to some data that are classified as state secrets, he was forced to look it up on foreign sites, he said. “If such a stringent regulation becomes a law, I am… [Read full story]
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