Radio Free Asia
Tuesday - November 17, 1998

Washington, D.C. - Radio Free Asia (RFA) has obtained a document from Hanoi that calls for total, all-encompassing democratization, a true market economy, the rule of law and full respect for human rights. Four veterans of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) wrote, on behalf of many aged veteran Party members and soldiers, a long letter to the National Assembly denouncing Do Muoi and his son-in-law for corruption. The letter dated October 25, was sent just days before the National Assembly was scheduled to meet for its fall session on October 28.

The authors of the document - Hoang Thuy Viet, Le Manh Nam, Doan Dan Thuc, and Tran Tri Tinh - question the integrity of Do Muoi, the last CPV Secretary-General and currently the Supreme Advisor to the Party. The document also calls for investigation of the wide-ranging and multimillion-dollar business dealings of Do Muoi's son-in-law, Phuong.

Contrasting such corruption with the integrity standards demanded of officials in other countries, the letter concludes:

Contradictions and contrasts in the life of the people are now at their extreme. The younger generation lives in an obstructed, futureless frame of mind. The people's faith in the country's future is shaken and has fallen to pathetic lows. Our country is actually on the brink of bankruptcy and risks instability in every aspect. The nation is facing extremely serious challenges and dire threats.

There is only one correct solution for all the above: It's the road to all-encompassing democratization of the social and political life of the nation, and we must proceed to a profound transformation of the outmoded centralized and socialist command economy into a free market and liberal economy. We must at all cost build a civil society and the rule of law, in which all social movements are regulated by just laws and in which human rights values must be considered the highest principles. We must truly bring our country in line with the fully civilized world, a world that is changing without stop. Only then can we promote the mind and talent of all our people and orient them towards a renaissance and reformation of our homeland. Only thus can we heal the great suffering that we have incurred after years of divisive war and hatred, and say a definite farewell to long nights of shame and bitterness. True democracy and freedom are the keys to bring our beloved Vietnamese fatherland towards a bright future.