Communist Party is threatened with disintegration: former official

HANOI, Feb 5 (AFP) - The Vietnamese Communist Party is threatened with disintegration if it does not accept "radical political reforms," a general and former party ideologue has said in an explosive letter to the country's leaders.

General Tran Do, a veteran of the revolution and former official responsible for party ideology told AFP on Thursday he had sent a 13-page letter in December. "I have not had a response," he added.

The letter was addressed to then party chief Do Muoi, his successor as party general secretary Le Kha Phieu, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and National Assembly Chairman Nong Duc Manh and "all others interested" in Vietnam.

In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, he said "the current economic reforms demand radical political reforms (because) the concentration of power (by the party) is leading to the degeneration of the party itself."

The retired 74-year-old general, former head of ideology for the Commission of Culture, Literature and the Arts, outlined serious failures made by the Communist Party.

A highly respected Vietnamese intellectual, Do called in the letter for "free elections" and demanded the promulgation of "a legal code encompassing freedom of thought, opinions and expression which would clearly be accompanied by freedom of press and publication."

The letter is likely to send shock waves through the corridors of power, which maintain a strict public face of unity and solidarity.

Such a biting criticism from someone of Do's prestige is extremely rare and daring in a society where the ruling Communist Party keeps a tight grip on dissent.

He also made lengthy references to recent rural unrest in his native northern Thai Binh province, the cradle of the communist revolution.

Violent demonstrations against corrupt local party officials last summer had a deep impact on the stability and called into question the direction of the party, analysts say.

"If we don't find our way out of this social morass, we will irrevocably collapse ... instability will grow and the party will be obliged to repress (the unrest), which will bring about its disintegration," warned the general.

"Under such circumstances there is a need for frank and constructive exchanges, in the press, among social organizations and at the very core of the party.

"But strangely, one sees more and more restrictions on expression," the letter said.

Referring to those involved in the Thai Binh unrest, he wrote: "These are the same peasants who formed the backbone of the party who are today turning their back on it to defend themselves, something I never could have imagined.

"I fear that the troubles in Thai Binh portend a great danger for the party if it doesn't draw these just and painful lessons."

He added: "The solution vital to solve these problems is democratization."

The general also wrote two years ago to Do Muoi asking him to abandon the "dictatorship of the proletariat" in favour of the "rule of law," but his most recent letter hits much harder in its criticism of the regime.

Another prestigious revolutionary figure, Hoang Minh Chinh was imprisoned for 12 months after being arrested in 1995 for sending an open letter to the country's leaders calling for democratization.

Do's letter is the most public demonstration of the divisions which exist within the party. It also shows that the most threatening and vocal form of dissent is coming from the party's own ranks.