Internet use increases in Vietnam but remains in straitjacket
HANOI - Internet use in Vietnam has increased this year but at the same time has raised alarm bells among the authorities, who fear its destabilizing impact at the hands of dissidents.
With more than 400,000 Internet subscribers and some 2.5 million people who regularly surf the web, the sector grew in usage terms nearly 30 percent in 2003.
In July, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications unveiled plans to develop e-commerce. Ministry head Do Trung Ta also travelled to Geneva to participate in this week's United Nations information summit.
However, Internet cafes have really only taken off in Vietnam's large cities, and the online world remains far beyond the reach of a large majority of Vietnam's mostly rural 80 million populace.
Only 3.2 percent of Vietnamese surf the Internet, as opposed to 7.7 percent in Thailand and 34 percent in Malaysia, according to figures from the Vietnam Informatics Association (VIA).
"In reality only around 3.5-5 percent of state-owned enterprises use the Internet. Its usage is limited to email and online chat forums," said Vu Hoang Lien, director of the government-run Vietnam Datacommunications Co.
"The majority of users are young people and not civil servants and businessmen. It is a great waste," he said.
Slow access speeds, the prohibitive costs of owning personal computers and the absence of online security for e-commerce transactions are hindering development, experts say.
"The state must enable commercial transactions over the Internet. Security problems have already blocked its development," said Nguyen Long, general secretary of VIA.
Language remains another barrier. The percentage of Vietnamese who can speak English, the principal Internet language, remains tiny.
But arguably the biggest constraint on the Internet's development in Vietnam is the communist regime's desire to control and censor the online world to prevent it from being used as an anti-government mobilization tool.
In June 2002, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai ordered that all Internet cafes take action to prevent access to pornographic sites and those that revealed "state secrets" and "reactionary documents".
Six months later in November, cyber-dissident Le Chi Quang was jailed for four years after publishing an article online criticising Vietnam's border agreement with China.
Subsequently, others have been arrested or imprisoned for similar acts and charged with espionage or "abusing democratic freedoms".
"In Vietnam, pushing the 'send' button can result in dire consequences including years in prison and family and friends put under 24-hour surveillance," Amnesty International said last month.
Earlier this year, the rights group published a document issued by the Communist Party's elite Politburo warning that "international reactionary forces continue to push for the realization of the strategy of 'peaceful evolution'".
This conspiracy was aimed at trying to "overthrow the socialist government in Vietnam by force," it said.
The directive accused the mass media -- "especially radio, television, the Internet, various information offices of embassies" and other outlets -- of inciting opposition and promoting violence "to negate the ideal of socialism" and "to attack the leadership of the Party".
"Everything that does not conform with official policy is considered a threat," said a Hanoi-based Western diplomat.
"The authorities could allow more freedom," he added.
"As long as the country develops, there is little questioning by Vietnamese on the nature of the regime. What's more, only a very small part of them have access to the web."
Agence France Presse - December 12, 2003.
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