Online, Vietnam's PM offers rare personal glimpse
HANOI - Vietnam's prime minister has offered a rare glimpse into his family life and wartime past as he took online questions from the public in what the government billed as a show of openness.
In the premier's two-hour web chat, a first for the one-party state, Nguyen Tan Dung also touched on sensitive issues such as corruption and press freedom in a forum flooded with more than 20,000 questions.
Although entries were screened, the event received an enthusiastic response in the authoritarian state where state and party directives are usually delivered through tinny neighbourhood loudspeakers.
Asked why Dung, a veteran of what is called here the "American War," had later sent his son to study in the United States, the 57-year-old premier from southern Vietnam gave an unusually candid and detailed response.
"I spent 23 years fighting the US aggressors in Vietnam's southern battlefield," he wrote, saying that he lost his father and uncle to what was then a hated enemy and personally suffered 30 injuries.
"We, like all Vietnamese, hated the former aggressive regime and the US invasion troops, but we did not hate the entire US nation.
"We were thankful to those Americans who poured onto the streets to demonstrate against the war in Vietnam. We also felt for the American mothers who lost their sons and husbands in the Vietnam invasion."
Dung said that now Vietnam's ruling party and state wanted to "close the past, head toward the future and at the same time build and develop cooperative and equal relations between the two countries."
The premier also said he was surprised when he was chosen as premier last year but said he loved his job: "Some people said that as a senior leader, one may feel very lonely," he wrote.
"But I have never felt lonely. I don't know what other people think, but I feel life is always beautiful."
Many questions focused on corruption, which has caused much resentment here and which Dung has pledged to tackle hard.
Asked what he loved and hated most in life, Dung said: "I love honesty most, and I hate cheating most."
A graft fighter, he said, must tackle corruption "no matter who those corrupt officials are or what positions they have, and not fear complications, revenge or losing his position."
Many questions were technical, but in one of the most sensitive queries, Dung was asked why he last year signed an order to prohibit private media, and whether this contradicted Vietnam's official goal of freedom and democracy.
"It's true that on behalf of the government, I signed an instruction to strengthen the management of the media to best promote the role of the press in national development," Dung said.
He added that "this instruction is in accordance with Vietnamese law, and the majority of the Vietnamese people's aspiration. I think compatriots should support it and the press should obey it."
Dung said that while "achievements by the media must be respected... their mistakes must be seriously treated in accordance with our law."
The answer was telling in marking the limit of Vietnam's media freedom despite Friday's high-profile event, which the government says opens a new two-way channel of communication between the leaders and the people.
Cybercafes have mushroomed and Vietnam had 14.6 million Internet users late last year, or 17.6 percent of its population, according to the Vietnam Internet Network Information Centre.
But human rights groups and IT experts warn that Vietnam censors not only its traditional media but also the Internet, filtering and blocking websites and hunting a fledgling movement of online democracy activists.
Journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, one of the country's most prominent "cyber dissidents," has remained in a Vietnamese prison since his 2002 arrest for allegedly passing information to overseas groups through the Internet.
Agence France Presse - February 9, 2007.
Vietnam PM goes online in first for one-party rule
HANOI - Vietnam's Prime Minister on Friday used his first online chat with the public to explain the ruling Communist Party's ban on private media, discuss his landmark visit to the Vatican and Hanoi's anti-corruption campaign.
The online chat by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was part of an effort by the country's leaders to appear more accountable to Vietnam's 84 million people, of whom more than half are younger than 35 and more exposed to the world than previous generations.
Asked why he had signed a directive last year to ban any privatization of the media and whether it was against "the freedom and liberalizing democracy, which you strive for" Dung said the order was "in line with the aspirations of our people."
He said the more than 600 state-run newspapers "must become the mouthpiece, the forum for democracy of the people."
The party embraced market reforms of the mostly state-run economy that led to the country being admitted to the
World Trade Organization in January, but they stop short at the media.
The party said in October that leaders would have regular online chats with the public on corruption and other controversial issues, a first for Vietnam.
Hanoi imposes legal and technical controls to block access to writings and people on the Internet who challenge one-party rule.
About 3.1 million Vietnamese are Communist Party members, according to the party, and about 16 percent of Vietnamese have access to the Internet.
International ties
Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and red tie, Dung sat in a black leather chair in front of four computer screens inside the office of the government Web site (www.chinhphu.vn) to answer questions submitted by the public.
About 20,000 questions were sent before the three-hour chat and Dung answered them verbally while government staff typed.
Top diplomat Vu Khoan conducted the initial online chat last December to discuss challenges facing Vietnam in the WTO and its hosting of the November summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
In the space of 12 years, Vietnam has emerged from isolation to one of the world's fastest-expanding economies with
GDP growth of 8.17 percent in 2006 and is a beacon for foreign investment.
Dung said on Friday that Vietnam aimed to "equitise" all of its state-owned enterprises, using the term applied by Hanoi that refers to partial privatization of state-owned companies.
Dung, who was installed last June and is Vietnam's youngest-ever premier, in January became the country's first prime minister to attend the elite
World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and the highest-ranking official to meet the Pope.
Dung said online that the Vatican has proposed to establish diplomatic relations and he "has taken note and assigned the diplomatic agencies to conduct discussion."
Asked whether there were any obstacles or "banned zone" in the fight against endemic corruption, Dung replied, "So far, I have not seen anything obstructing me."
Reuters - February 9, 2007.
Vietnam's leader goes to the people - online
HANOI - Vietnam's prime minister was host to the country's highest-level online chat yesterday, answering questions about everything from corruption to his personal life - a clear break from old-style communism in the rapidly changing country.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung answered questions preselected from more than 20,000 sent from across Vietnam and abroad. He also fielded a few live questions during the 21/2-hour chat and did not shy away from thorny issues, including the lack of press freedom, the Vietnam War, and government seizure of farmers' land for development.
"Why did you sign a decree strictly banning privatization of the press in any form?" asked someone with the screen name Pham Duong Quoc Tuan. "Doesn't it go against the goal of freedom and democracy that you are striving for?"
Dung defended the recent decision to keep the country's 600 media outlets under state control, prohibiting a free press. "The decree was in line with Vietnamese law and in accordance with the aspirations of most of the people," he answered.
Dung, 57, appointed in June, is Vietnam's youngest prime minister, known as a reformer. Long groomed for the job, he has a record of fostering economic growth.
At age 12, Dung was a messenger for Viet Cong guerrillas fighting U.S.-backed South Vietnam. He later battled U.S. troops during the war, which ended in 1975 when the North reunified the country.
"You used to fight against the U.S. and had vindictive hatred for the U.S. What did you think when you sent your son to study in the U.S.?" asked someone with the screen name Jeremy Taylor.
He acknowledged his hatred for the United States during the war, "but we do not hate the American people."
He said: "My son is working for the Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture, and he was sent to the U.S. to study by Vietnam's Ministry of Education... . The party and the government now want to leave the war behind to build up a good relationship with the U.S."
Many people saw the online dialogue as a good way to address their problems and help them feel more connected to the country's head of government.
Past leaders have taken a more formal approach, reading speeches at events and avoiding questions from the international media. But Dung often speaks without notes and has vowed to be more in touch with the public.
"I don't know whether the issues we raised to our leaders will be addressed or not," Hanoi taxi driver Nguyen Trung Van said while sipping tea on the street. "But this is a good start, because we need a channel to communicate with our leaders."
Despite the frank online discussion, Internet use is still tightly controlled in Vietnam. Cyber dissidents have been jailed after posting pro-democracy messages online, and Vietnam requires identification at Internet cafes, where users are monitored and some sites are blocked. Many rules, however, are largely ignored as Web use booms in a country where two-thirds of the 84 million people are under 30.
By Margie Mason - The Associated Press - February 10, 2007.
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