Vietnamese communists face challenge from unprecedented unrest


   HANOI, Sept 18 (AFP) - Unprecedented protests by peasants faced  
with endemic corruption are posing a major challenge to the 
Vietnamese Communist Party, which has taken unusual steps to show it 
has the situation in hand, analysts say. 
   After several months of silence, news of serious "turbulence" in  
Thai Binh province led to rare coverage in the official press, which 
blamed the unrest on low-level corruption and unbearable taxation. 
   And new revelations surfaced this week as the army's official  
newspaper revealed that "many complicated incidents, including some 
which were serious" had occurred in four provinces in the center of 
the country. 
   Analysts say the coverage -- which took the unusual step of  
saying the peasants' anger was justified -- was the party's way of 
showing it is not overwhelmed by events and knows how to react when 
its credibility is threatened. 
   That the unrest comes in Thai Binh province, to the southeast of  
Hanoi, is especially ironic. Vietnamese know it as the birthplace of 
the communist revolution. 
   The official newspaper of the party, Nhan Dan, published a  
series of articles last week on the causes of the troubles that hit 
128 of 285 communes in the province, which is also one of the major 
rice producing region in the north. 
   No longer able to keep silent as the news spread, authorities  
finally offered explanations for the peasants' anger: an avalanche 
of taxes imposed by local authorities, embezzlement of local 
construction funds, and influence peddling by hamlet chiefs. 
   In addition, authorities said they understood the peasant's  
anger. Nhan Dan blamed the unrest on local authorities "who turned 
their backs on the people" and "took their grievances lightly." 
   It also accused the local officials of handling larger and  
larger sums, with some "succumbing in the face of easy money." 
   "One worm is enough to spoil the fruit," the newspaper said.  
   Some 50 local officials were sacked in Thai Binh. But the  
investigation into wrongdoing continues and "the Party has decided 
to not let this kind of thing reproduce" and will take action 
against higher-ranking officials, a Communist Party official said. 
   By taking such a stance, the party "has turned the events in  
Thai Binh to its benefit," said one diplomat. "The Party said to the 
peasants, 'you were right to revolt.'" 
   But the explanations don't address the entire problem, said one  
Vietnamese observer who was unsatisfied with the official response. 
   He pointed out that the newspaper confined its attack to  
low-level officials and contended they failed to mention others 
involved in the power network of relations that govern at the local 
level. 
   Also, the participation by retired local officials and former  
soldiers in the protests were also not mentioned. 
   The Communist Party, who sent members of its Politburo to Thai  
Binh to calm the situation, is apparently shaken by the possibility 
of such unrest spreading elsewhere, with talk of agitation in other 
northern provinces. 
   About 80 percent of Vietnam's population lives in rural areas,  
and they've seen an income gap grow steadily as city dwellers have 
benefitted from the country's economic opening over the past 10 
years. 
   "The uneasiness is all the greater because the fundamental  
factors that set off events in Thai Binh exist everywhere else," 
said the Vietnamese observer. 
   Vietnam's peasants have demonstrated before, but not with the  
intensity of the Thai Binh protests. Peasants from the Mekong Delta 
demonstrated in Ho Chi Minh City in 1988. They protested in the 
northern province of Ha Tay in 1992, in central Quang Nam in 1994 
and in Hanoi last year. 
   Some say the demonstrations are a sign of greater freedom of  
expression. 
   "The people are no longer afraid to express their unhappiness  
because they are backed by the words of the party," said a diplomat. 
"They don't have political claims, but economic ones" and their war 
is the same war the party has declared on corruption. 
   Corruption has increased dramatically in recent years, observers  
said, but as long as the salaries of local officials remain anemic, 
the temptations remain irresistible to many.