[Vnbiz] Vietnam takes a new political direction

[Phan, Tai]

Aug 16, 2007  
  
 
  
 Vietnam takes a new political direction
By Karl D John 
Asia Times

HANOI - One year after his appointment, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has fully consolidated his control over government and the country's reform direction. Last month, the 57-year-old leader was re-elected by 97% of the votes of the Communist Party congress, and he immediately put his personal stamp of authority on government by naming two additional deputy prime ministers and streamlining the ministerial structure from 26 to 22 positions. 

He also moved to appoint a new central-bank chief and nine new ministers, while also reconfirming 12 incumbent ministers. The



newly ratified cabinet is considerably younger than its predecessor, and Dung told the National Assembly that the restructuring was meant to "unify and modernize" government. The new team will be charged with maintaining the momentum behind Vietnam's economic-reform program, which has contributed positively to the country's recent rapid economic growth. 

The two new deputy prime ministers both have solid economic credentials, one holding a master's degree in economics and the other a university professor of the same subject. Crucially, Dung maintained the geographical division inside his government's top spots, with two deputies from the communist-stronghold northern regions, one from the central area, and two from the decidedly more capitalist south, where Dung himself hails from. With the reins of the State Bank now in the hands of a southerner, some analysts anticipate that this economic team will be more business-friendly than its predecessor. 

Le Dang Doanh, a senior economic adviser to the previous prime minister, commented after the reshuffle that the younger, well-trained cabinet will send out positive signals to foreign investors. 

"The big challenges for the new cabinet are to harness the increasing inflation and help increase the competitiveness of the economy," he said. 

Il Houng Lee, the senior resident representative of the International Monetary Fund in Vietnam, said: "The reshuffle of the cabinet is only one step of administrative reforms - implementation of the government's policies. Still needed is comprehensive reform at various levels." 

In that direction, Dung also vowed that his administration will "seriously correct weaknesses and errors", including the growing corruption that threatens the viability of government-backed administrative reforms. Some political observers believe the recent ministerial appointments were designed by Dung to break up corrupt arrangements maintained by certain former ministers. The same corruption-busting analysis applies to his decision to reduce the number of ministerial posts. 

At the recent fourth session of the Central Steering Committee on Corruption Prevention and Control, of which Dung serves as director, he said, "Corruption must and will be stamped out from Vietnam." True to those words, a week after giving his swearing-in speech at the National Assembly, a court in Hanoi sentenced a former high-ranking government official attached to the Transport Ministry to 13 years in prison for his part in a high-profile gambling and bribery scandal. 

The former director of a unit responsible for building highways and other transport infrastructure was convicted by the court of betting nearly US$750,000 on European soccer matches, was ordered to pay a cash fine of $65,000, and was sentenced to six years in prison on gambling charges and seven years for attempted bribery. Eight other people were also convicted for their role in the gambling ring. The scandal last year forced the transport minister to resign and also resulted in his deputy's arrest. 

How deep corruption has reached throughout the Communist Party-led system is anybody's guess. What is clear is that Dung, trained as a lawyer, understands the potential political implications of runaway corruption on his appointed government's popular legitimacy. During his speech at the National Assembly, Dung also said, "The greatest and most exciting challenge ... will be for the government to build a strong, transparent administration that is devoid of red tape, corruption and wastefulness." 

Civilizing the bureaucracy 
In that direction, Dung's government has issued a number of directives aimed at modernizing and professionalizing the bureaucracy, including new bans on smoking and drinking, establishing altars and holding religious ceremonies, and using telephones for personal use in government offices. 

In a move aimed at instilling accountability and transparency, officials must wear photo name-cards while on duty and have been given stern directions not to use profanity or to collect parking fees from people who visit government offices. In an unusual act of government openness, Dung recently hosted an online chat forum, where he answered questions from the public about himself and even touchy topics such as government corruption. 

Dung's government is also in places loosening long-held state controls, particularly those governing foreign organizations. A recently issued regulation abolished cumbersome procedures associated with licensing foreign organizations and media agencies aiming to establish offices in Vietnam. Similar reforms will no longer require foreign organizations to apply for state permission when releasing media communiques or information over the Internet, printing documents, leaflets or news articles, or publicizing news on public electronic screens. 

The Ministry of Construction, meanwhile, is seeking government approval for a plan to sell houses to six groups of foreign individuals and organizations on a trial basis, which would be implemented in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City over the next three to five years. More symbolically, the Communist Party is even flirting with the idea of hosting the 2008 Miss Universe beauty pageant, with the president of the organization recently scouting for locations in Nha Trang, Da Lat, and Hanoi. 

World Bank president Robert Zoellick wrapped up his two-day visit to Vietnam by saying. "Vietnam has the potential to be one of the great success stories in development. It has already achieved one of the fastest improvements in living standards in the world, with a great reduction in poverty." He also said that with the benefits of trade and reforms, Vietnam is on pace to become a middle-income country by 2010. 

All of this and more rely on Dung maintaining a political consensus behind his economic-liberalization program. Compared with previous prime ministers, who often reclusively blended into the woodwork of the larger party apparatus, Dung is in comparison cutting a more charismatic and global profile. Political observers say Dung is deliberately taking center stage to signal global leaders and investors that he is in total control of his government - which wasn't always apparent with previous post-revolution Vietnamese administrations, which were run more by committee. 

Dung's performance was widely applauded in Vietnam's successful hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Hanoi last November, where 21 global leaders were in attendance. He has since reached out to Vietnam's Southeast Asian neighbors through visits to Singapore, Myanmar, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. 

Dung made a particularly noteworthy visit to the Vatican and met with the pope, the first Vietnamese leader to do so since Hanoi pronounced itself an atheistic state and severed diplomatic ties with the religious mini-state in 1975. He is now also lobbying for a temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council and, in a historical irony, has even offered to play peacemaker through hosting talks between the United States and North Korea in Vietnam. 

As the first Vietnamese leader born after revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, Dung is widely recognized as the youngest prime minister ever to serve a Communist Party-led government. One year into his term, and with many nettlesome reform issues in the pipeline, Dung so far has proved himself to be the progressive leader many Vietnamese and foreigners had hoped he would be on his elevation to the premiership. 

Karl D John is chief executive officer of The TCK Group (www.tckgroup.org), a Vietnam-based investment consulting group. He has more than a decade of involvement with Vietnam and lives in Hanoi.