Reformer takes helm in Vietnam
Under the watchful gaze of a gilded bust of Ho Chi Minh and images of Karl Marx and Vladimir
Lenin, one of the world's last ruling Communist parties will officially overhaul its top leadership
in Vietnam this weekend.
Senior party leaders confirmed yesterday that Le Kha Phieu, one of the most powerful men in
Vietnam, will be replaced as head of the ruling Communist Party by Nong Duc Manh, the
reform-minded chairman of the National Assembly, who is also widely believed to be an
illegitimate son of Ho Chi Minh.
Mr. Phieu, 70, a former chief political commissar in the armed forces, had been at the helm of
Vietnam's Communist Party for only three years. But he had come under sharp criticism for a
muddled and ineffective leadership style and he was accused of mishandling Vietnam's
stagnant economy. He had also failed to stem widespread corruption inside the party.
Mr. Manh, 60, is a forestry engineer by training and a member of the country's ethnic Tay
minority. He becomes the first member of a minority group to hold power in Vietnam. As
chairman of the National Assembly since 1992, Mr. Manh has developed a reputation as a
consensus-seeker who has been untouched by corruption.
For years, he has also been rumoured to be the illegitimate son of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's
revolutionary leader -- a suggestion he has never specifically denied.
The dramatic leadership change marks a generational watershed in Vietnamese politics and
comes amidst bitter infighting within the party.
Hanoi has been awash with rumours of a pending leadership shuffle for months. Nothing came
of them until a closed-door meeting this week of a new 150-member Central Committee, at
which Mr. Manh was elected party leader in advance of a national party congress that opened
on Thursday.
More than 1,000 Communist members are at the congress, which is held every five years and is
expected to set long term political and economic goals for Vietnam.
In addition to selecting a new Central Committee, Vietnam's leaders have also voted in a new
15-member politburo -- reduced from the previous 18-man body.
Eleven previous members retained their seats on the politburo and four new members have
been added.
In yet another sign of sweeping generational change, three of Vietnam's elder statesmen, Do
Muoi, Le Duc Anh and Vo Van Kiet, are reported to be poised to lose their official posts as party
advisors.
"Now that the [party] congress has finished its term, we are all withdrawing," Mr. Muoi, who
held Vietnam's top job from 1991 to 1997, told reporters yesterday.
The retiring Mr. Phieu said yesterday he is willing to step down for a younger man.
"I think I have reached the age and if the conditions are right, then the conditions should be
created for a younger person," he told foreign reporters in Hanoi.
Phan Van Khai, Vietnam's Prime Minister, who reportedly threatened to resign over the slow
pace of change, will remain at his post, as will Tran Duc Luong, the President.
The shakeup has not been reported in Vietnam's government-controlled news media. But
formal party votes to endorse the changes are expected today, with official announcements
anticipated tomorrow.
Mr. Manh comes to power just as economic reforms have generated growing discontent about
rural poverty and official corruption. There is a worsening divide between Vietnam's big cities
and the countryside, which has alienated peasant workers, the party's traditional bedrock of
support.
There has also been growing disenchantment among Vietnam's 54 ethnic minorities, after
violent protests among the mainly Christian peoples of the Central Highlands prompted an
army crackdown in early February.
Conservatives in the party politburo are believed to have backed Mr. Manh as leader partly
because they hope he can ease tensions among minorities.
Few expect his appointment to signal a drastic change in direction. Vietnam has pursued a
policy of gradual economic reform for the past 15 years, and that process is expected to
continue.
Nevertheless, Mr. Manh is expected to move more quickly to reform Vietnam's massive
bureaucracy and to overhaul the country's legal system.
Vietnam recently adopted a plan with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in
which it promised to reduce trade restrictions and improve the state banking system in
exchange for loans.
Carl Thayer, a Vietnam specialist at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii, said
Mr. Manh's promotion should help establish a legal basis to speed reforms.
"It looks very positive so far," he said. "Hopefully we can expect a stronger legal basis for
reform and less arbitrary rule."
By Peter Goodspeed - The National Post (Canada) - April 21, 2001.
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