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Since the Sixth Plenum (1986), the Vietnamese Communist Party has
followed the reform movement from the Soviet Union, urged renovation,
and officially admitted that in the previous period it had been
opinionated, full of favoritism, arrogant, and erroneous in many areas.
The Party has decided to open the economic door, appease capitalists and
capitalist countries while inviting them to come and invest in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the Party has continued to smother private domestic economic
industries.
In nine years (1986-1994), the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has granted 1,174 investment licenses worth over $11 billion. The actual amount invested has been $3.5 billion.
Besides petroleum related projects in the Eastern sea, there have been no meaningful industrial and infrastructure projects for the national economy carried out.
Even the $3.5 billion of actual investment comes up short. In most cases, foreign investors bring in older equipment and price those at one and a half to two times the real worth to exaggerate their part in joint-ventures. The Vietnamese partners, mostly state-run companies, accept any blown up price so they can earn their commissions.
Despite these problems, in only a short period of "economic reform", people can breathe a little easier, at least on the surface. Our agricultural industry has changed significantly. Since the Land Reform ended and peasants were allowed to lease the soil, people in the country as a whole have enough white rice to eat and can export more than 1.5 million tons. The government assesses the economy as expanding between 8% and 8.5% a year.
However, if one takes a serious and responsible look at the current economy of Vietnam, he will see that the current development has no foundation, is very close to being at the edge of a cliff, and faces the kind of dangers that can push the whole country to a precarious dead end.
1. The main source of finance today centers on the reservoir of real estate. Since 1992, the price of land has skyrocketed at dizzying speeds, ten fold on average--15 to 20 to even higher in certain areas.
Vietnamese have sold their houses to foreign investors and used that money for living, shopping, building new homes, and entertaining. All sorts of consumer services, in turns, live off that money. State-run companies also use their own lands--which were assigned to them by the government or taken by force from the people by various means--as contributing property in joint-ventures with foreign capitalists, as guarantees for borrowed money from banks. The land reservoir has grown smaller and smaller. Foreign investors take over more and more strategic property across Vietnam. After 30 years of struggling to regain the country, our beautiful land is being sold off to new foreign bosses.
2. The Vietnamese Communist Party announced that it would finance itself and stop using government funds to pay for Party's activities. In reality, the Party has expropriated an economic arm of the government (owned by the people) to be its exclusive property.
As the government calls for privatization of state-run companies to push forth economic reform, to erase favoritism, to cut losses burdening the state, cadres currently in power are the ones that buy most of the new stock. Workers in companies are symbolically allowed to buy a few shares to cover-up and to hold them responsible for the companies. This kind of privatization is, in reality, a transfer of state properties (belonging to the people) to the pockets of a few privileged Party members.
These practices have sucked up people's strength to create a class of red capitalists who form the richest core of the Vietnamese Communist Party. The rest of the population, including regular Party members, continue to suffer and remain at disadvantage. Generations of our children will have to work their lives to pay foreign capitalists the huge debts left behind by the government of this Socialist Republic of Vietnam, including the $10 billion to Russia. And nobody knows when we will be able to regain Cam Ranh bay from Russia and the Parcel islands from China.
3. The gap between rich and poor ever widens. Social decadence floods cities and rural areas across the country. Ethical values are decimated. Our culture is shaken to its very roots by the power of money.
Today, Vietnamese workers suffer both physically and emotionally under layers of oppression: communist officials, foreign bosses, red millionaires, corruption, smuggling, pimps, madams, etc. These oppressors conspire into silhouettes of political and economic mafias, constantly weighing down on the simple and defenseless population.
Without the determination and promptness to stop these disasters, we risk not only losing our Vietnamese culture and morality, but also descending to a total self-destruction of our people.
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20 years since the liberation and unification of the country, the state
of the nation is not what the Resolutions of the Party Fourth Plenum
(1976) and Fifth Plenum (1981) defined. The Resolution of the Six Plenum
(1986), starting the "Market Economy in the Direction of Socialism," has
not make much difference. This policy implied a capitalist economy under
a communist political system. The Direction of Socialism entailed
promoting State-owned sections of the economy to the leading role. But
when the State-owned section is deteriorating and used to enrich
individuals, how could it lead the economy in the Direction of
Socialism?
The Politburo knows this well and also knows the current Vietnamese Communist Party is far different from that of the past. Today it is simply a dictatorial political party like any other capitalist dictatorial party. The leadership, however, continues to call for "the defense of Marxist-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought" to unite the Party members...At the same time, they learn from the dictatorial rulings previously used in Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea calling on people to concentrate on the economic development, turning Vietnam into another "Dragon" like the other four in Asia. The Party itself, however, refuses to reform, and insists on the opposite. The lower infrastructure develops capitalistically while the upper part tries to linger with the unreal socialism. It is, therefore, absolutely illogical to expect the Dragon to fly.
With all sincerity and seriousness, for the interests of our people and nation, I propose that the Vietnamese Communist Party, which has made great strides in accepting the market economy, should also be courageous in cutting off that meaningless "Direction of Socialism" tail and actively solve the main impedance to political reforms.
1. Put an end to the dictatorial and totalitarian regime. Accept a pluralistic democracy and build a law-binding government. All political parties are equal in front of the laws.
2. Respect all Human Rights and Civil Rights that, on Sept. 24, 1982, the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam signed international declarations to abide. In the case of Vietnam, special attention should be paid to:
- Freedom of Expression, Freedom to act politically. All political prisoners must be unconditionally released.
- Freedom of Religion. All currently imprisoned clergy must be unconditionally released.
- Freedom of the Press. All private citizens and social organizations (not just the communist party) can issue their own publications.
- Freedom of Trade. All economic elements are equal before the law. All individual rights to property are recognized.
3. In 1995, organize the National Conference for Reconciliation and Harmony.
- The Party should actively start this process. A member of the Politburo, along with a number of representatives of various organizations, can create the Organizing Committee of the National Conference for Reconciliation and Harmony.
- This committee then comes up with the agenda, invites delegates and presides over the Conference.
- The Conference will decide on the principles to run the country in the transitional period. It will also vote on the leaders of the transitional government.
- The transitional government holds election to select members of the National Assembly. This National Assembly then writes the country's constitution and hold direct elections so people themselves can select the leaders of the nation.
4. During the period between the Conference and the election of the nation's leaders, the Armed Forces, Public Security and the administrative structure remain unchanged to maintain law and order and to protect the nation's territory. They will help run a normal daily life for the society. The Military and Public Security will not stand with any faction, but remain independent and hold the interests of the nation and the people above all else.
I believe a pluralistic and democratic Vietnam will surely earn the respect and support of the Vietnamese people inside and outside the country and the world community.
The pluralistic democracy will revive the spirit and talents of the Vietnamese people. They will build their own lawful government, who have enough ethics and capabilities to run the country, develop the market economy, bring contents and happiness to the people, and promote our culture.
The Vietnamese people has started their campaign "All for National Reconciliation and Harmony." The Vietnamese Communist Party should not impede this peaceful process.
I believe political parties of all orientations and ideologies will support this campaign of national reconciliation and seriously try to solve the country's problems.