After the loss of his prominent lieutenants Nguyen Ha Phan--expelled from the Vietnamese Communist Party and put under house arrest--and Dao Duy Tung--stripped de facto of important functions--at the Tenth Plenum of the Party Central Committee in mid-April, Party chief Do Muoi appeared desperate for new allies for his tattered faction, commonly referred to as the "Party-power camp."
The split between General-Secretary Do Muoi and Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet was too deep to mend following Muoi's month-long trip across northern provinces lambasting Kiet's "secret" proposals to the Politburo. The military camp under General Le Duc Anh, head of state and number two in the Politburo, decided to split with Muoi after seeing him unable to protect the military from Kiet's government. In the last year, the generals witnessed the government clear their mansions along the Yen Phu dike, ban the highly profitable firecracker business, and publicize the military's smuggling and prostitution rings.
Do Muoi has resorted to the traditional method of the Party camp: scare tactics.
On May 2nd, Muoi asked the Public Security force to pay utmost attention to peaceful evolution threats, including "ill-intentioned criticism" of Party leaders. Public Security cadres should be more "decisive" at extinguishing any signs of trouble. Muoi encouraged even more use of informants among the population.
On May 6th, at a meeting of Army leaders, Muoi warned of the dangerous rift between the armed forces and the Party: "We should smash all efforts by the enemy to encourage a de-politicization of the armed forces." Differences between the military and the Party are being exploited by "hostile forces" to topple the Communist Party's leading role.
On May 9th, Muoi described Saigon as a hotbed for subversive elements despite precautions taken in recent months, including a ban on street celebrations on the April 30th victory. At the city Party Congress, Muoi insisted: "This city is considered by hostile forces as fertile ground for peaceful evolution, through political destabilization, economic sabotage, and socio-cultural pollution."
Party warnings of a communist bloodbath should "peaceful evolution" be allowed to succeed have lost much weight these days, especially when former communists like Nguyen Ho, Le Hong Ha, Hoang Minh Chinh, and Le Van Lam, are among the dissidents Vietnamese inside and outside Vietnam publicly support. Around the world, numerous efforts have been made to secure freedom for former communist party member Nguyen Ho along with other non-communist political prisoners like Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Father Tran Dinh Thu, Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, Prof. Doan Viet Hoat, and others.
The current political condition in Vietnam and events such as the government's sudden order to paint over all billboards and shop signs with foreign words in February have led foreign investors to apply the brakes in recent months.
The Japanese Kyodo news agency warned of signs of an imminent political coup in Vietnam. The Japanese Foreign Ministry already has told Japanese companies to stop investing in Vietnam, at least until after the 8th Party Congress scheduled for June.
The government, however, projects a brighter picture. On May 1st, the State Bank of Vietnam predicted that the rate of growth for 1996 will exceed 1995's 9.5%, and inflation will be under control.
The announcement seemed deliberately to soften the effect of the Ministry of Planning and Investment's report three days later. Since the number of licenses granted by the government, along with the dollar amount, can be verified by international financial institutions, the ministry reluctantly reported a 50% drop in foreign investment for the first four months of 1996.
From January to April 1995, 134 projects worth $2.58 billion were licensed--compared to 87 projects worth $1.24 billion for the same period in 1996.
In late April, the United Nations warned Hanoi of the danger of industrial growth without concerns and measures to maintain environmental safety. Nay Htun of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) delivered a solemn speech at the conference on business and the environment in Saigon.
"There are significant opportunities for Vietnam," Htun commented "not to repeat the costly mistakes which have been made by other developing countries, not least its neighbors."
Private discussions among foreign firms executives at the conference, however, disclosed the government's willingness to brush aside any environmental concerns in the final contracts and the following implementation. Environmental regulations are used only during the early negotiations of contracts.
These observations fit well with other reports by foreign press and various international organizations like the U.N. on the government's own destruction of the environment. Not long ago, it was no less than Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet who decided to cut down the human-planted forest intended to relieve the pollution problem in Saigon and sold the land to Taiwanese developers to build golf courses for foreign vacationers. At the inauguration ceremony, Mr. Kiet satisfactorily commented "Golf is an environmental sport!"
Meanwhile, the government, in early May, issued its own finding that about 36 million Vietnamese workers are toiling in dangerous conditions.
The Institute of Labor Protection and Safety disclosed: "Up to 97% of them work in an environment that contains at least two hazardous elements and the hazard levels are increasing by 19.6% per year." The number of industry-related illness increases by more than 6% annually.
Exhilarated at being invited by U.S. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina to a meeting to sell more of his state's tobacco products, Hanoi ambassador-designate to the U.S. Le Van Bang proudly proclaimed that Vietnamese are heavy smokers. Some even smoke two cigarettes at a time.
As the deadly effect and tremendous medical cost of smoking are being realized around the world, most governments, including those in southeast Asia, have started campaigning to end this harmful habit in their societies.
Bang, on behalf of Hanoi government, promised to license more foreign cigarette makers into Vietnam and expand the capacity of those already in.
In response to the press interview, Bang said: "We'll smoke for ten more years, until we are a more developed country. Then we'll quit, just like you."
This statement faithfully reflects what Bang's government think of its citizens. Vietnamese people, in the government's view, are not just underdeveloped economically (thanks to the socialist economic system in last two decades) but also mentally. And until they find out on their own the dangerous effect of smoking, the government will help bring in more poison for their consumption.
In the mean time, the government continues to fight against "cultural poisons" and "decadences of capitalism."
Officially, Pham Cong Canh, Pham Kim Thanh, Nguyen Quoc Minh and Huynh Xay will remain in prison for the next two to three years. In reality, they will most likely disappear into the political prison camp system the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has set up to hold indefinitely writers, journalists, doctors, teachers, artists, and religious leaders.
Trials in this country are totally irrelevant except for the intimidation effect. In the event of an actual trial, dates, times and locations are continuously changed to prevent any form of international monitoring or protest. Even the crowds at high-profile cases are meticulously selected.
Each trial, no matter how complicated the case might be, is concluded within one day. There is barely enough time to read the charges and the pre-written verdicts and punishments.
The film produced by Chung Sing, yet to be released, was reported to focus on the trade of human beings in Vietnam and child-sex abuses which so many countries involved in the "New Vietnam tourist industry" prefer to hide.
The movie, filmed in Vietnam, also contains dramatizations of "reeducation" camps, torture in prisons and government repression against calls for human rights. These calamities continue to be part of the Vietnamese people's everyday life.
Except for fictional movies that depict the U.S. as villains such as "Platoon" by Oliver Stone, possession of any historical documentary on the Vietnam war is considered a crime. Everett Senholz, a U.S. citizen moving to Vietnam to get married and teach English, found out the hard way. Among the charges for his 5-year prison term in February 1996 was the possession of the "Vietnam: A History" series by Stanley Karnow.
True stories of the "New Vietnam" are now starting to get out, and must, as this country is steadily worsening its human rights abuses. Vietnam, unlike China, does not have the immense power to intimidate Canada and the United States into dropping their human rights demands. The Canadian government by its unsupervised monetary support to Vietnam institutionalizes human misery. The Canadian public must be made aware of the suffering of the Vietnamese people who would give up anything to leave this country and of the refugees who would rather kill themselves than return. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is exterminating everything that is the soul of Vietnam, its people and a culture of four thousand years.
Sources : Boite Noire Film Rentals (Quebec) AP reports on the trial of Everett Milton Senholz