Steam Rises
Corruption galvanizes pressure for political reform
Farmers anywhere are a tough breed. And Vietnam's peasants, hardened by decades of war, near-starvation and poverty, can tolerate almost anything.
Except embezzlement. If local officials appear to be living beyond their means, the farmers will object. And they did, loudly and persistently, through much of 1997 in Thai Binh province, in northern Vietnam's Red River delta.
Thousands of peasants, often led by retired war veterans, took to the streets in different villages to protest against rising fees and demand a public accounting of money they had contributed to local-government coffers.
Similar discontent pervades many provinces, and some villages have even sent veterans to Thai Binh to learn protest strategies, says an agronomist. Even big cities are affected: The state-owned Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper recently printed an account of Ho Chi Minh City residents' anger at the rising number of official fees for which they aren't given receipts.
And it's not just the masses who are fed up: Retired Gen. Tran Do, a respected fighter for independence and unification, and several noted intellectuals such as mathematician Phan Dinh Dieu, have either submitted letters or made speeches to official bodies calling for more democracy. The enemy is within, they say.
It's a time of reckoning for the 67-year-old ruling Communist Party: The protests from all sides have sharpened the already widening generational and policy fissures among top leaders. Discord persists to the point that the new leadership line-up has yet to agree on politburo rankings--although three months have passed since the body's new members were named.
Although no one is using the word "pluralism," the incidents portend the development of civil society in this one-party state. "To survive, the party must change. That's all," says Le Dat, a poet who was expelled from the party for his pro-democracy writings in 1957. "I can't predict a second or third party; still, democracy will come more and more, but its form is not certain."
Under the circumstances, party leaders seem to have little choice but to make concessions. Both the protests and the general's letter were cleverly crafted to direct criticism at abuses by local officials--who are party members--but did not threaten the party itself. The airing of criticism may have been a radical move, but it fell within accepted bounds and therefore the critics are shielded from retribution. The players themselves, and especially Gen. Do, are virtually unassailable in Vietnamese society. To discipline them would harm the party more than anyone else, analysts say.
Moreover, the protesters have displayed exquisite timing by making their critiques as
the party is undergoing a sensitive leadership transition and may be more amenable to change.
The new president, prime minister and party chief named last year do not hail from the revered "1930s generation" of revolutionaries, and therefore do not have the moral or political prestige of their predecessors. As a result, they may have to carve out a more accommodating relationship with their citizens. "Intellectuals don't respect the new leaders," says one Hanoi scientist. "The prestige of the Communist Party
is declining. This is good for future change."
So far, the party appears to be treading carefully. No action has been taken against Gen. Do, who is reported to be a wheelchair-bound diabetic, except to warn all party organizations against similar action. In Thai Binh, the party has disciplined 300 local officials, and in early March it announced a pilot scheme allowing farmers to monitor decisions and giving them more say in local budget matters.
"The response is typical and intelligent: tactical concessions to defuse criticism,
without giving up any critical ground," says William Turley, a Vietnam specialist at
America's Southern Illinois University. In other words, he adds: "Bend when you have to, crush when you can."
Elements remain within the party who would rather crush. For instance, conservatives insist that Gen. Do be stripped of his membership. "There's still huge pressure," says a Vietnamese political observer. The party newspaper, Nhan
Dan (People), and several other papers have printed letters that indirectly criticize the
critics.
But some officials blame former party chief Do Muoi for not paying enough heed to peasant protests after they erupted in Thai Binh last May, the month when local officials usually collect "contributions" (apart from state taxes) to support local infrastructure.
They also criticize the decision to send in the police, who are perhaps the most detested group in Vietnam because of alleged corruption and abuses of power. Villagers in Quynh Hoa held more than 20 policemen hostage for four days in
November; three were injured. Local officials say these farmers were "extremists" and that some have been punished.
Vietnam's newer leaders appear to have more sympathy for the protesters. President Tran Duc Luong visited Thai Binh in early March and acknowledged that officials had made mistakes--the highest-ranking official to do so to date. Shortly afterwards, the scheme allowing farmers to monitor the decisions of local officials was announced and Luong warned police to shape up. Earlier, party chief Le Kha Phieu visited Gen. Do at his home, a move some observers say could be an attempt to neutralize criticism with a show of respect.
But some analysts believe he could be solidifying his political base before
implementing tougher measures. Phieu, a two-star general and former political commissar in Vietnam's army, remains an enigma to many. He's a potential wild card in how the party chooses to deal with criticism. "It's not clear if his reaction is real change or a tactical step back," says one Vietnamese political analyst."He's consolidating power, but we don't know what he will do with it."
Since he replaced Do Muoi on December 29, the 66-year-old northerner from Thanh Hoa province has done little to upset reformers. His speeches are not obviously hard line, reformers say. But he remains under the tutelage of conservatives
Do Muoi and former President Le Duc Anh, whom many credit with placing Phieu in the party chief's chair. According to a Vietnamese saying, the chair determines the head. In other words, Phieu will likely have to adhere to a conservative agenda if he wants to keep his position beyond the next party congress in 2001.
By Faith Keenan, Far Eastern Economic Review - March 28, 1998.
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