Vietnam caught between repression and
reform
By Shawn W Crispin
Vietnam's ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy groups has entered a volatile
phase with the recent imprisonment of a group of foreign nationals, an
unexpected move that has strained bilateral relations with former battlefield
adversary and present pivotal trade and investment partner the United States.
On November 17, Vietnamese police arrested and detained a group of six
pro-democracy activists affiliated with the unsanctioned pro-democracy Viet Tan
party. The ethnic
Vietnamese activists, among them a US national mathematics researcher, a French
national journalist and a Thai citizen, were arrested while handing out fliers
that explained and promoted non-violent struggle for democratic change.
The government has through the state-controlled media acknowledged jailing
some, though not all, of the activists. In a clumsy attempt to deflect US
criticism, communist propagandists manipulated images on the website of state
mouthpiece newspaper Sai Gon Giai Phong of detained US national Nguyen Quoc
Quan, which were initially published with him wearing prison garb but hours
later were replaced with images of him in a white t-shirt. Subsequent articles
listed Quan's nationality as "unknown".
The authorities have simultaneously attempted to paint the pro-democracy Viet
Tan party, which has members both inside and outside of Vietnam, as a terrorist
organization bent on stirring violence and unrest - charges the party has
firmly denied in a public statement. The only evidence offered to substantiate
the terrorism claims has been the arrest of two ethnic Vietnamese Americans -
six days after the group of Viet Tan activists were first detained - who were
charged with trying to enter Vietnam with a firearm. Viet Tan has denied any
association with the two suspects.
None of the Communist Party-led government's official obfuscation about the
arrests or trumped up charges against the Viet Tan party has washed with the US
embassy in Hanoi, according to a source familiar with the situation. US Deputy
Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Scott Marciel recently
cancelled a planned visit to Vietnam in protest against the detentions. It's
still unclear whether Washington would consider imposing some sort of economic
sanctions if the US national activists are held indefinitely.
The George W Bush administration earlier this year shifted its previous
conciliatory policy towards a more critical assessment. Bush met at the White
House with Viet Tan's senior leadership and thereafter scolded Vietnamese
president Nguyen Minh Triet over the country's abysmal rights record during his
high profile visit to Washington – which was billed as a diplomatic victory in
the state-controlled media.
Half-hearted reformer
Now the sudden internationalization of the Communist Party's sustained
crackdown on Vietnam's small but determined pro-democracy movement has put
nominal national leader prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung on the horns of a
potentially damaging dilemma.
Many had hoped upon Dung's appointment to the premiership in April 2006 that
his government would take a more enlightened approach towards democratic rights
and civil liberties. Breaking with the post-revolutionary Ho Chi Minh era -
where governments have been run more by faceless committees than led by
charismatic leaders - Dung has portrayed himself as a reformer and put his
personal stamp of authority on his new-generation administration.
He has leveraged that authority to push for more economic and financial
reforms, including streamlining rules and regulations related to foreign trade
and investment in line with the country's new liberalization commitments as a
full-fledged member of the World Trade Organization. Dung has also angled to
boost the country's global image by presenting himself as the animated leader
of a new Vietnam, breaking with the stiff tradition of his Communist Party
predecessors.
In that direction, he is also spearheading some soul-searching inside the
77-year-old Communist Party, as its cadres aim to attract more foreign capital
and redefine their role in the ongoing transition from communism to capitalism.
That reportedly even includes an internal debate over whether the party should
consider a name change. Unconfirmed media reports have party cadres mulling
either the "Labor Party" or "People's Party" as possible new monikers.
Redefining the party is clearly a politically delicate and complicated
exercise, particularly as so much of the monolithic regime's current legitimacy
relies upon its revolutionary past. Vietnam's capitalist revolution, in
contradiction to the party's traditional egalitarian philosophy, has caused
widespread social and economic dislocation and rapid enrichment of party cadres
and their affiliated business interests.
Even with rapid economic growth, it's proving an increasingly difficult social
and economic balance for the regime to maintain. For instance, last year the
government was rocked by widespread and sometimes violent strikes by factory
workers who demanded a rise in the national minimum wage. In an unusual
concession to popular demands, the government eventually relented to the
workers' demands, though to the chagrin of the foreign factory owners who
located in Vietnam for the cheap wages.
To be sure, under Dung's watch there have been certain signs of political
loosening - albeit still on the party's own terms and conditions. Earlier this
year, Dung fielded questions from the general public over an on-line chat
forum. This month he introduced for the first time a similar question and
answer session at the traditionally opaque National Assembly of Vietnam, the
country's Communist Party-appointed parliament.
Education Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan was grilled by citizen questions over his
policies, which had recently resulted in dropping graduation rates in many
provinces, while Finance Minister Vu Vanh Ninh was peppered by even harsher
questions about a national e-government project that Dung shuttered because of
misuse of funds, according to a recent Asia Foundation report.
At the same time, Dung's government, and perhaps more importantly the Communist
Party's politburo, continues to treat Vietnam's budding pro-democracy movement
as a security threat rather than a potential reform opportunity. Underscoring
the regime's squeamishness, the head of public security was elevated to the
politburo's second most powerful position at this year's Communist Party
Congress, who now ranks above both the prime minister and president and only
behind the party's general secretary.
That reaffirmed the Communist Party's strong commitment to the police state it
first institutionalized over 30 years ago to ferret out suspected supporters of
the former US-backed South Vietnam regime and has since deployed to suppress
any hint of political opposition to its rule. What's unclear is whether those
tough tactics will work the same against a new generation of politically minded
Vietnamese that are not as easily spun by the bogey of Western-influenced ideas
and ideals.
Viet Tan leader Duy Hoang, himself a US citizen, says that the government's
recent repressive measures targeting pro-democracy groups like his have only
encouraged more people to join his party's non-violent struggle for democratic
change, which he likens to the civil disobedience campaign led by the Nobel
Peace Prize-winning democratic opposition in Myanmar. If the Vietnamese
authorities continue to hold US citizens as part of their crackdown on
democracy, Washington could soon be persuaded to view the situation similarly.
Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia Editor. He may be
reached at swcrispin@atimes.com.
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