The New Land Reform in Vietnam
The Vietnamese Communist Party launched the infamous land reform programs as it swept to power during the 1950s. With alarming brutality, the Party confiscated properties of middle and upper income peasants in areas coming under its control. Four decades later, the Communist Party is pursuing another kind of "land reform." This time, by forcibly seizing from impoverished peasants lands to be converted into golf courses and tourist resorts. There have been fierce protests in response.
In December 1996, over a thousand villagers from the Kim No People's Commune, located on the outskirts of Hanoi, blocked a 600-strong security force from seizing their property for a planned golf course. In the clash that ensued, security cadres used German shepherds, truncheons, electric prods, and tear gas to attack the residents. Unable to evict the people, the government has denied that any violence occurred while Kim No residents report numerous injuries. A foreign reporter invited by the residents described a scene littered with police instruments and torched vehicles.
In May, a similar development took place at another hamlet in Kim No--also slated to become part of a luxury golf course. Over 1500 residents clashed with 500 security personnel, some of whom came dressed as farm workers and proceeded to clear the commune's rice fields. Hundreds of residents were injured as were dozens of security personnel. One woman was killed. In both incidents, mass arrests followed and several of the Kim No residents detained have yet to be heard from.
In Kim No and other areas where peasants have been faced with losing their croplands, the government has offered only meager compensation or later reneged on what it had promised to pay. As a socialist republic, all land in Vietnam is said to belong to the "the people." But the people get no say in how their land is apportioned. Instead of enjoying the fruits of economic development, they end up losing their livelihoods every time the area around them is opened for "development."
In general, the payments made by the government are a fraction of the funds set aside for compensation by the foreign investors. The Korean firm Daewoo, which is planning to build the luxury golf course at Kim No, agreed to provide over $800,000 for compensation. Government officials, however, told residents that they would be getting $200 for each plot. Where is all the extra money going?
Vietnam is still a very poor country, especially in the countryside where 80 percent of the population lives. This poverty explains the desperation of the Kim No residents when the heavily armed security forces arrived. The farmers donned white cloth headbands, a symbol of death in Vietnam. With the land they had tended for generations about to be confiscated, the residents indicated that they would be losing everything.
The irony of communist authorities appropriating peasant lands to construct luxury golf courses is inescapable. The Vietnamese Communist Party may espouse one kind of aim, but its actions indicate another. The purpose of the new "land reform", unfortunately, is to enrich the few in power.
The residents of Kim No succeeded in blocking the state takeover of their fields for now, but the security forces will surely return. Meanwhile, the authorities have cut off all irrigation to Kim No and the residents there cannot grow any crops as they live in fear.
Without a government accountable to the people, the fruits of economic reform will primarily stay with the few in power. Imagine which Vietnamese are able to frequent the new luxury golf courses. During colonial times, the prime locations in the country could never be enjoyed by the majority of the populace. It is sad to see the same injustice taking place now.