Thayer Consultancy

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Background Briefing: Vietnam: Blowing the Whistle on Corruption by Party Cadres Carlyle A. Thayer December 28, 2011

[clientnamedeleted] AtthemostrecentmeetingofthePartyCentralCommittee,PartychiefNguyenPhu Tronghasacknowledgedthatthereisa"degradation"inmoralsandlifestyleamong party members, eroding public confidence in the party. What does this acknowledgementmeanforVietnamatthisstage? AplethoraofscandalsrelatedtothelifestylesofVietnameseofficials,albeitnotat highplaces,haveyetagaindiscouragedthepublictrustrecently.Meanwhile,people have seemed to turn to individual whistleblowers to vent their grievances. These whistleblowers, like teacher Do Viet Khoa and Transparencyawardwinner Le HIen Duc, might have had good intentions in the first place, but they have seemed to crossthelineandarenotreflectingthepeople'swillanymore. Is the dwindling confidence in the party, state, and government inadvertently responsible for putting whistleblowers in the spotlight? Should the Vietnamese authoritiestakethatasawarningsign?Whatshouldpartyleaedersdotoameliorate thesituation? ANSWER:TheVietnamCommunistPartyhasbeenpinpointingthe"degradationin morals and lifestyle among party members, eroding the public confidence in the party for a longtime now. This is not a new issue. The party usually conducts campaigns to eradicate this vice among its members prior to national party congresses.Ifwecastourmindsbacktotheperiodbeforethetenthpartycongress, senior party officials were identifying corruption as a major threat to the Vietnam Communist Party. Vietnam continues to rank very low on Transparency Internationalsindexofcorruption. Thedegradationofmoralstandards,likeprostitution,isanegativephenomenathat willneverbeeradicatedentirely.Itisaproductoftheweaknessofindividualsand theopportunitiesprovidedbythemarketeconomy. Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trongs acknowledgment of the importance of this issue is a continuation of past campaigns by the party to eliminate this evil. The Vietnam Communist party must continually renew itself by dismissing and discipliningpartymemberswhofailtoreachthepartysethicalstandards.Itisonly bycampaignsofthisnaturethatthepartycanwinthetrustofthepeople.

2 Vietnam has long had a system of denunciation and complaints available for the peopletoreportcorruptionanddegradationinmoralstandardsbypartymembers. Thishasproventobeacumbersomeprocesswithoutmuchtransparency. The internet and social networking sites have empowered individuals to be public whistle blowers. They have been relatively free to air charges of corruption and degradationinmoralstandards.Theirallegationshavebeenwidelyairedandspread fromoneinternetnetworktoanother. Buttheburdenof proofrestswithVietnamspoliceand legalsystem.Theinternet allows individuals to raise allegations without proof or supporting evidence. Vietnamese authorities are faced with a dilemma. On the one hand they must investigateallegationsmadebywhistleblowers.Ontheotherhand,theauthorities musttakeactionwhenwhistleblowersmakeallegationswithoutfoundation. The peoples confidence in the party, state and government will only be restored whencorruptanddegradedofficialsarebroughttojusticeeitherthroughthepartys own system of discipline or through the courts. This means that no favourtism should be shown to officials who are guilty. This problem cannot be solved over night. In order to win the peoples trust the party, state and government should ensure that the press and media can report accurately on cases of corruption and degradationofmorals.