Dissident Vietnam general fires new broadside
05:54 a.m. Jun 29, 1998 Eastern
By Andy Soloman
HANOI, June 29 (Reuters) - An increasingly outspoken retired general and former communist party stalwart has fired off a fresh broadside calling for greater democracy in Vietnam.
General Tran Do, in an open letter dated June 20, called for frank debate on the future role of the ruling communist party and said the country must be prepared to cast aside socialism if that would help development.
``Do we need a developed country with enough food and clothes, freedom and happiness (i.e. democracy)...or do we need a country with socialist orientation that is very poor?'' asked Do.
``A choice must be made. I myself chose a Vietnam with 'people enjoying adequate food, clothes, freedom and happiness', with or without socialism,'' he added, quoting Vietnam's late revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was addressed to the official party daily Nhan Dan (People), Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army), Saigon Giai Phong (Saigon Liberation), Tap Chi Cong San (Communism Review) and other newspapers.
It has not been published and Do wrote that he did not expect it to be printed.
A party member who was once head of ideology at the Commission for Culture, Literature and the Arts, Do has become a thorn in the party's side since his first letter was leaked in January.
Premier Phan Van Khai, who ranks third on the 19-member elite party politburo, said in March that Do and other intellectuals who had attacked socialist-inspired policies and the party's monopoly on power were entitled to their views.
But Do has complained of intimidation directed at himself and his family, a slur campaign against him in the official media, and questioning of visitors to his house in central Hanoi.
Dissenting political views are rarely tolerated in Vietnam.
``I clearly see that there is a psychological war aimed at killing my political life,'' Do's letter said.
Party chief Le Kha Phieu visited Do during the Lunar New Year at the end of January, and in his latest letter Do said another politburo member had come to see him last month.
``A representative of the politburo met me on May 25 and told me that the politburo considered that my opinions were not in line with the party's policies...and were therefore unacceptable,'' the letter said.
Do criticised the policy of forcing socialism on the free- wheeling capitalist south following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and said the party must acknowledge its mistakes.
``We usually talk about the decisive role of the party in achievements and successes,'' he said.
``But I want to talk about the decisive role of the party in our country's failures and difficulties. Doesn't a party like ours want to talk about that?''
A life-long revolutionary, Do retains his respect for Ho Chi Minh, but said the party must change with the times and drop war-time principals such as strict discipline and absolute leadership which were making the party authoritarian.
``The party must be reformed and democratised. Opinions that say democracy means chaos and that freedom of speech means lying and inciting people must be rejected,'' he added.
Citing the motto of ``independence, freedom, happiness,'' which adorns every official letter in the country, Do said Vietnam had independence but had yet to achieve freedom or happiness.
The U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights in Vietnam, which was published in January, said the country's record remained poor, marred by restrictions on free speech and harsh prison conditions.
Human rights group Amnesty International lists 54 political prisoners in Vietnam. Vietnam exile groups have claimed there are as many as 1,000 such prisoners, but other reliable sources had put the figure closer to 200, the report said.