AT A STANDSTILL

 

AT A STANDSTILL

 

By Van Nguyen

 

 

     

 

The move to renovation is decisive. The Seventh Party Congress (1991), in this effort, sets forth policy and strategy to build national reconstruction in in every aspect of the life of the people in the coming transitional period to socialism. It is a socialist society where the working people are the master and where a developing economy founded on progressive forces of production and the public system of ownership to the means of production. The ultimate objectives are to be achieved in harmony with the cherished national cultural heritage to liberate man from oppression and exploitation.

 

Rhetoric and reality does not match. Religious intolerance, as a case in point, is flat and merciless. Amnesty International (1992), published a long list of Catholic priests and Buddhist monks whom it recognizes as prisoners of conscience Catholic priest Tran Ba Loc was arrested in 1975  and detained  at Nhu Xuan reeducation camp, Thanh Hoa Province, North Vietnam. Catholic priest Nguyen Thai Son was arrested in 1975 and detained at Nhu Xuan reeducation camp, Thanh Hoa Province, North Vietnam.  Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly was arrested in 1983 and detained at Ba Sao reeducation camp, Ha Nam Ninh Province, North Vietnam. Catholic lawyer Nguyen Khac Chinh was arrested in 1975 and detained at Xuan Loc reeducation camp, Long Khanh Province, South Vietnam. Buddhist monk Thich Huyen Quang was placed under house arrest in 1982 at Quang Nghia Village, Nghia Binh Province, and Central Vietnam. Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do was placed under house arrest in 1982 at Vu Thu Village, Thai Binh Province, North Vietnam. Buddhist monk Thich Duc Nhuan was arrested in 1985 and in 1988, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Buddhist monk Thich Tri Sieu was arrested in 1984, sentenced to 20 years in prison, and detained at Xuan Loc reeducation camp, Dong Nai Province, South Vietnam. Buddhist monk Thich Tue Sy was arrested in 1984, sentenced to 20 years in prison, and detained at Xuan Loc reeducation camp, Dong Nai Province, South Vietnam. Buddhist monk Thich Thien Tan was arrested in 1978, sentenced to life imprisonment, and detained at Xuan Phuoc reeducation camp, Phu Khanh Province, Central Vietnam. Buddhist monk Thich Phuc Vien was arrested in 1980, sentenced to 20 years in prison, and detained at Xuan Phuoc reeducation camp, Phu Khanh Province, Central Vietnam. Pastor Vo Xuan was arrested in June1975and detained in a reeducation camp until 1987. He was rearrested on December 12, 1989, and detained at Thuan Hai Province, Central Vietnam. Pastor Tran Xuan Tu was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to 3 years of “reeducation.” His term in prison was extended to three other additional years in 1990, and was detained at an unknown forced labor camp.

 

Problems surged as the administration moved towards renovation. The daily Tuoi Tre (The Youth), on September 28 and October 8, 1991, reported that, one year after the operations for anti-corruption had completed, the General Inspector of the State Le Quang Tham announced that the State had executed 2,572 inspections and taken stern administrative measures against 19,220 officials, among whom were 7 vice-ministers and high-ranking officials at the same level, 6 chiefs of services and enterprises, 8 commissioners at the province level. Ten per cent of the personnel of the national reserves department, 2,128 officials of banking services, among whom 134 were chiefs of services, were subject to administrative measures. Six thousand seven hundred twenty-six (6,726) were brought to trials in the courts of justice. The administrative measures were evaluated as weak and late, according to the general inspector. The state property losses exceeded 25,000 billion dong (1,947 million dollars), which was approximately equal to the annual national income in foreign currency. 

 

 In his official report to the Laws Committee of the National Assembly on October 11, 1993, Tran Van Luc, Inspector of the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City, brought out such fact as, up to September 1993, the City had conducted 106 instances of inspection and found out the State had lost 53.5 billion dong, 3,695 ounces of gold, 8 houses, 11,875 square meters of land due to corruption. One hundred twenty-five (125) state officials were interrogated; 33 of them were subjected to investigation; and 22 were arrested for violations of the law. Tran Van Luc further stated that there was indication that corrupt state officials had conjoined themselves in an intertwined network to create a hard shell to protect corruption. Corruption spreads everywhere. It takes place in both political organizations and the mass media.

 

According to Truong Van Da, vice-chairman of the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City, there appeared an organized Mafia. Another vice-chairman of the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City, Vuong Huu Nhon, reported that the city's economy growth slowed down partly due to smuggling of commodities into the city. As a case in point, Ba Ty, through the Dong Nai Import and Export Company, smuggled into the city 4 million meters of fabric valued at 38 billion dong. He further indicated that the city had administered 15,000 instances of smuggling, illegal business transaction, and counterfeit merchandise within the two months of August and September 1993. However, only 110 instances of violation were administered. Vuong Huu Nhon also indicated that one of the hurdles in the fight against smuggling results from inefficient coordination between authorities and abuses of power. There are "special quarters" such as the area surrounding the Tan Son Nhat Airport. Local authorities were not permitted to go into the area for inspection, although they were aware that smuggling commodities had been stored there

 

        Organized corruption ravages the officialdom, causing a serious problem to the regime. There is foul play in business transactions of which international investors should be aware. Professor Nguyen Cao Hach (1993) pointed out that “the Communist authorities have institutionalized corruption. To secure internal security, the superior authority forces unconditional submission on lower cadres. Even if cadres at all echelons of the officialdom take bribe, none of them will dare raise a voice. A strategy is formulated. In foreign investment, for instance, orchestrated plan is created to publicize, mostly appealing to capitalists overseas. “Projects” are tossed around at international conferences and meetings. They appear to be proliferating enough to give them a mantle of honesty and respectability. To the communist opportunists turned to be “red bourgeois,” foreign investment has the motive force to legitimize illegitimate business ventures.  Foreign trade exchange would justify their newly acquired illegitimate fortunes, as well as massive transfer’s refrigerated money in foreign countries where they are taking the precaution of sending part of their families there ahead of time to secure a foothold in the projects that are still more difficult to find a clue. “ (Nguyen Cao Hach, Viet Marketing and Report. August, 1993: 53)