by Vu Kim Chung
16-11-2000
A letter in Vietnam's army newspaper on November 2, 2000 hit out at the "commercialisation" of power by senior members of the ruling Communist Party, saying corruption undermined the system and hampered economic development. The letter published on the front page of the official Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army) said corruption among state officials and powerful Communist Party members should be considered the key threat to Vietnam's development and economic and social well-being.
"A source of great concern is that the [corrupt] group of Party members are not ordinary members, but holding power and senior positions," the letter's author Phan Xuyen Thanh Dong wrote. "Those positions and power have been 'commercialised'."
The letter writer, who was not further identified, said corruption had led to losses of thousands of billions of dong (hundreds of millions of US dollars), which could have been used to fight economic backwardness.
"If the political, ideological and moral degradation and bureaucracy and corruption among some officials and party members - including officials holding key positions - remains serious within the ruling party, it will be difficult to bring prosperity to the country," it said. "Vietnam will collapse economically and socially as has happened in Indonesia and Thailand. This is the inevitable result of corruption. Learn from the mistakes of others in history."
Another state newspaper reported that six mid-ranking officials, four of whom worked with investment bodies, would be tried for showing a lack of responsibility in relation to a scandal over approval of using state organizations to provide goods and services to the Asian Development Bank-financed Irrigation and Flood Protection Rehabilitation Project, particularly as it related to the construction of the Bai Thuong Dam in Thanh Hoa Province. Several senior officials have already been sacked from their posts or reprimanded for mismanagement in the project. The paper also reported that an investigation of a Canadian consulting engineering firm tied to the project, Experco, and the activities of its Viet Kieu representative, Van Truong Tang, would be reopened for its involvement in agreeing to abide by these conflicts of interest after the officials had demanded them.
Among those dismissed as a result of the scandal associated with construction of the Bai Thuong Dam was deputy prime minister Ngo Xuan Loc, although he was later appointed to be an adviser to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai for key projects. The head of the Central Project Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the organization responsible for water resources development in Viet Nam, Le Van Hien, was forced into early retirement. The director of Thanh Hoa's Sub-Project Office No. 406, Nguyen Van Chuong, was arrested for economic irreposnibility and conflict of interest related to the management of the dam's construction. He was released on his own recognizance, but was still under investigation as were the activities of a number of the senior officials of the SPO No. 406.
Vietnam announced a crackdown on widespread corruption and abuse of power in 1999 but has since admitted its efforts had fallen short. Popular anger at such behaviour has been mounting especially in the past decade when the fruits of free market reforms have come up for grabs. In Thanh Hoa and Thai Binh provinces, especially, public anger turned to near revolt with vigilante groups arresting corrupt officials and beating them, prompting the central government to send in the army to put down the people.