Hanoi Seeks to Ease Concern Over Rural Unrest

Reuters
By Adrian Edwards

HANOI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Vietnam's ruling Communist Party renewed its efforts on Thursday to ease concern over months of unrest in a northern province by publishing results of investigations into the problem in a leading official daily.

The lengthy but arid article in the party's Nhan Dan newspaper said widespread administrative corruption lay behind the troubles in Thai Binh province, and pointed to the failure of the authorities to tackle complaints against officials.

``At some places the settlement was not in good shape so the denouncers lost their trust,'' it said. ``The situation became more complicated when bad elements having ideas of private revenge stimulated the people, causing disorder.''

The front-page report, which the newspaper said was a letter from a resident in Thai Binh, did not say whether the authorities had succeeded in restoring order in the province, but said that thanks to politburo guidance the situation was improving.

It said investigators had found that many communes had been asked to make contributions of rice over and above the levels required by state taxation.

Fifty officials had been suspended as a result, some of whom were being prosecuted, it added.

The problems in Thai Binh surfaced in late April last year when thousands of angry residents launched organised protests against corruption and bullying by local officials.

Although the area lies just 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the capital news of the troubles, which became violent in May, did not appear in the domestic media until September.

Most of the subsequent reporting has been piecemeal. Further disputes over similar issues, including among two Catholic communities in an area of southern Vietnam, have erupted since the troubles began in Thai Binh.

Both party and other analysts say the unrest is not directed against central government.

There is some consensus however that the protests are against a system in which corruption and heavy-handed officialdom have been allowed to go unchecked.

All access to Thai Binh for foreign journalists and other independent observers remains barred on grounds that the provincial authorities are too busy to receive visitors.

A separate report in the Nhan Dan paper said the government intended to implement new measures to improve the situation for rural residents, who make up 80 percent of the country's 78 million population.

These include lowered electricity prices, preferential loans for farmers, tighter controls over local taxation and an easing of state bureaucracy in cases involving land ownership claims.