Hanoi (dpa Oct. 1, 1998) - A top Vietnamese official has hinted that Hanoi may allow greater local decision-making but stressed that the party will maintain ultimate political control, in a speech published Thursday.

Provincial and local people's councils ``need to have a greater role in real representation'' said Nong Duc Manh, the National Assembly chairman and fourth-ranking member of the elite politburo.

However, he also reiterated that ``party leadership must be increased at different levels of government so as to firmly maintain the state's worker environment''.

Manh's speech was the second in three days by a top official addressing growing concerns over what Hanoi terms ``people's mastery''.

Do Muoi, Vietnam's 81-year-old former top leader, said Tuesday that the party and the state were under threat from widespread corruption and moral decay. He attacked ``corruption, red tape, a lack of democracy, law violations'' and officials ``intruding in people's legitimate interests''.

The government was unsettled last year by widespread social unrest in rural Thai Binh province, involving mass protests against corruption and abuse of power.