Hero takes leadership to task HANOI - War hero General Vo Nguyen Giap - who at 90 remains Vietnam's greatest living legend - has lashed out at the country's ruling Communist Party, accusing it of "ideological stagnancy" and reluctance to address its failures. For the second time in as many months, the man who led North Vietnam's army to victory over both France and America has publicly called on the party's current leadership to hasten economic and social reforms and speed up integration with the rest of the world. "To be successful in these endeavours, the party must be truly democratic and learn from its mistakes, listen to the opinion of the people, reform its leadership methods and build a state based on the rule of law," he told a conference in Ho Chi Minh City last month, the proceedings of which were reported only yesterday in the state-controlled Nhan Dan newspaper. "We remain poor, but socialism does not exist in poverty. Re-invigorating the party is a decisive factor in our moving forward . . . we need to clean up party members and cadres, fight bureaucracy, corruption, smuggling and the abuse of power," he said. General Giap also reportedly repeated comments made to foreign journalists in April, when he called for a greater emphasis on education, more access to information through a critical mass media, and the lifting of controls on the Internet. Despite his wartime achievements, long-standing disputes with some of his party colleagues have seen the general's political power diminish dramatically over the past 25 years. According to political scientist Michael Liefer, General Giap was forced to resign from the Politburo and as defence minister for his opposition to Vietnam's 1979 invasion of Cambodia. He continued to serve in the mostly symbolic role of deputy prime minister until 1991, when he resigned from politics, but remains immensely popular among ordinary Vietnamese. The fact that his comments were published in a party-controlled, mass-circulation newspaper lend credence to the theory that Vietnam's leadership is experiencing increasingly vocal criticism from both the public and the party rank and file. "We have certainly been surprised at the level of recent debate, not just in the National Assembly, but also in the party-controlled press," said one Western diplomat. By Huw Watkin - The South China Morning Post - June 20, 2000.