VI:Voters' disatisfaction in VN

Vietnamese legislature faces voter dissatisfaction. But top leader vows to stay the course

BY KRISTIN HUCKSHORN
Mercury News Vietnam Bureau
September 21, 1997

HANOI -- Vietnam's new-look legislature opened its first session Saturday by confronting a list of complaints from voters that spelled out what much of the country already knows: Problems are piling up.

Nevertheless, the country's top leader insisted Vietnam would not surrender its state-oriented socialist agenda. Nor will it give up the Communist Party's control over political and economic policy. Instead, Do Muoi, the vigorous 80-year-old party secretary, underlined the party's pre-eminence and warned against interference from unnamed foes.

"We firmly reject the argument of some people -- who consider they have the right to judge -- lecturing us on democracy," Do Muoi told the 450-member National Assembly, which includes younger and more-educated delegates than previous bodies. "In fact, (they are) interfering in the work of our people, encouraging elements opposed to our socialist regime."

Contrast with China

The status-quo speech was in sharp contrast to the revolutionary talk of mass privatization that characterized an important Communist Party congress last week in neighboring China.

Like China, Vietnam is attempting to sustain high rates of growth while making a difficult adjustment from a command system to a market economy. Economists insist that transition ultimately must include privatization of 7,000 state-owned enterprises, many of them now bankrupt. But Do Muoi's comments indicated Vietnam will continue ignoring the advice.

How long it can disregard such counsel is a question of increasing significance. Saturday, in a frank admission of failings, a party official read delegates a laundry list of complaints from the voters who elected them in July and now expect action.

Rice farmers griped about the lack of capital for small loans. Fishermen wanted loans to purchase boats. Ethnic-minority members in the mountains asked for assistance building roads. Rural residents whose taxes helped construct a massive hydroelectric dam that provides power to Hanoi complained that half of their own households don't have electricity.

Corruption assailed

And almost everyone attacked the rising cost of education and health care as well as escalating corruption among government officials.

Do Muoi directly addressed the latter issue, making patriotic reference to Ho Chi Minh, whose plaster bust sits on the stage overlooking delegates. "Uncle Ho used to point out that embezzlement, waste and bureaucracy are diseases closely related to each other," said Do Muoi, calling corruption "an indoor enemy."

But neither Do Muoi nor any other speaker mentioned recent unrest in Thai Binh, a coastal province southeast of Hanoi. While thousands of people have protested there since May against official corruption, the unrest was acknowledged in the Vietnamese media only last week. Foreign journalists have been denied permission to travel to Thai Binh.

A delegate who belongs to the Politburo, Nguyen Tan Dung, told reporters the protests should be viewed as "just like a row between a couple."

The assembly is expected to discuss measures to quell such rising indignation among everyday Vietnamese. But it remains primarily a rubber-stamp body whose debates give party decisions a democratic veneer.

Its most significant task during this 10-day session is to approve party leaders' recommendations for a new president and prime minister. That vote is expected to take place Thursday.

Sources said Tran Duc Luong, a 60-year-old geologist trained in the Soviet Union, probably will replace President Le Duc Anh, 76. Phan Van Khai, 63, a reformist-minded economist, is expected to replace the equally reformist Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, 74. Both Luong and Khai are deputy prime ministers.

Because Do Muoi is expected to retain his key post for at least two more years, analysts said the leadership change will have little impact on political or economic policies.