To Lam openly legalizing police state rule in Vietnam

New draft laws mark To Lam’s latest move to consolidate legislative power in the security apparatus from which he rose

On October 27, Vietnam’s National Assembly convened to review three draft laws, all authored by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) – the ministry from which General Secretary To Lam catapulted to national power.

At first glance, it looked like a routine parliamentary session. But beneath the procedural language lies a deeper trend: the steady consolidation of legislative power by Vietnam’s security apparatus.

1. Three “core” bills drafted by the police

The MPS is leading revisions to the Law on Criminal Judgment Execution, the Law on Judicial Records, and new regulations on temporary detention, custody, and travel restrictions. Each of these bills directly expands the state’s power over individuals rather than limiting it.

• The Law on Judicial Records, if amended to allow broader police access and data sharing, could effectively erase the notion of personal privacy.
• The Criminal Judgment Execution Law and the Law on Detention and Custody determine how citizens are treated once they fall under state control. Allowing the same ministry that enforces these rules to also draft them raises a profound conflict of interest.

These laws define not just the boundaries of justice but the boundaries of human dignity itself from prison conditions to visitation rights and the oversight of detention centers. Having the police write and execute these laws is akin to letting the jailer define the rights of the jailed.

2. From enforcer to lawmaker

Minister Luong Tam Quang, a Politburo member and long-time police officer, presented the bills on behalf of the government. Most of the reviewing committees — notably the Justice and Legal Affairs Committees — are also dominated by security or internal-affairs officials.

This institutional overlap means Vietnam’s police are no longer just enforcing the law; they are increasingly writing the law for themselves. Legislative independence has effectively merged with executive policing. The lawmaking process has become a bureaucratic mirror of the MPS’s hierarchy: top-down, opaque and shielded from public scrutiny.

3. Toward a “legalized security state”

The timing is significant. The discussion of these three bills coincides with another proposal, the Law on National Emergency  which would grant the executive sweeping authority to suspend constitutional rights in the name of “national security.”

Together, these laws represent a systematic codification of emergency governance, embedding security prerogatives deep into Vietnam’s legal DNA. When combined with previous cybersecurity and data-control regulations, the MPS’s legislative agenda forms a comprehensive infrastructure for social control: physical, digital, and psychological.

4. Human rights under threat

Vietnam is entering a new phase of legislative securitization, where lawmaking serves to justify control rather than constrain it. There is no constitutional court, no independent judiciary, and the press is restricted to reporting official statements rather than analyzing rights implications.

The result is a closed feedback loop: the MPS drafts laws expanding its powers, the National Assembly rubber-stamps them, and the same ministry enforces them, all under the banner of “public order.”

What appears as administrative reform is, in effect, the architecture of a police state being written into law.

5. Institutionalizing the “police-state” model

Vietnam’s growing reliance on the Ministry of Public Security mirrors a broader regional trend where authoritarian states embed coercive control through law, not just through force.

Since 2018, the MPS has absorbed or overshadowed several civilian agencies  from cybersecurity to immigration management effectively turning it into a “super-ministry” that governs both physical and digital spaces.

In 2023, the ministry took over the national ID database and online censorship enforcement, allowing it to monitor civil society at unprecedented levels. The current legislative push completes that circle: it transforms administrative dominance into legal legitimacy.

When the enforcers of law also define what the law is, the balance between citizens and the state ceases to exist. This is how “rule of law” becomes “rule by law”, a defining feature of what Vietnamese citizens increasingly call a “cong an trị” (police-governed state).

6. Shrinking civic space, expanding surveillance

The MPS’s legal dominance comes amid rising restrictions on independent media, religious freedom, and civil organizations. The ministry’s influence now extends from prisons to passports, from cybersecurity to street protests.

Independent observers note that the police-led lawmaking process effectively preempts any external oversight: NGOs and lawyers have no formal channels to submit impact assessments; National Assembly debates are tightly scripted; and the press treats such bills as administrative updates, not matters of rights and accountability.

If approved, the current package of laws would mark a turning point, codifying the police’s supremacy not only in practice but in statute. Once enacted, these laws will leave little room for judicial interpretation, media criticism, or citizen appeal.

7. The erosion of civilian governance

The transformation of Vietnam’s legal system into a police-centered apparatus also reflects a weakening of civilian ministries. The Ministry of Justice, once responsible for harmonizing legal reforms with international conventions, now plays a marginal advisory role.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and even the Supreme People’s Court are increasingly subordinate to the security agenda. In Vietnam’s current structure, “national security” is not a policy domain, it is the organizing principle of governance.

8. From national security to personal insecurity

For ordinary Vietnamese, these developments mean one thing: the state’s reach is expanding, while citizens’ rights are contracting. Whether through data tracking, pretrial detention, or administrative surveillance, the individual is now perpetually visible to and vulnerable before the Ministry of Public Security.

In the absence of judicial independence or public debate, legal reform has become the mechanism of control. Vietnam’s latest legislative session confirms what many activists and analysts have long warned: the country is not merely enforcing its laws through the police, it is being governed by them.

By Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh – Asia Times – October 29, 2025