VZCZCXRO4057
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #0320/01 0871144
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281144Z MAR 06
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0614
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 0456
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0641

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000320 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI KCOR ECON VM
SUBJECT: HCMC MEDIA CONTINUES TO PRESS THE REFORM ENVELOPE 
 
REF: A) HCMC 229; B) HANOI 628 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000320  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  In a series of articles that coincided with 
the recently-concluded 14th Party Plenum, HCMC-based newspapers 
continued a public push for reform.  Emphasizing rule of law, 
one of the articles questioned the hitherto-sacrosanct Article 4 
of the Constitution, which codifies Communist Party supremacy. 
During the plenum, HCMC newspapers also stepped up their 
coverage of a major corruption scandal in the Ministry of 
Transportation involving misuse of Official Development 
Assistance (ODA).  The reporting not only pilloried the 
Ministry, but also attacked the Party's anti-corruption watchdog 
for its lack of oversight.  The corruption reporting may reflect 
the behind-the-scenes fight for leadership positions in the 
Party; two contacts linked General Secretary Nong Duc Manh to 
officials netted in the corruption scandal.  The continued press 
reporting on reform-related issues and publication of other 
articles advocating change is a challenge to Party officials who 
have encouraged an end to the "public comment period" on 
political reform proposals in advance of the Communist Party's 
10th National Congress.  End Summary. 
 
Sustaining Public Debate: Rule of Law 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In the two weeks running up to the Party's 14th Plenum 
and even while Party leaders were meeting in Hanoi, HCMC-based 
national newspaper Tuoi Tre continued its public commentary on 
reform in Vietnam.  (On March 22, it carried a scholarly article 
entitled "The Rule of Law"  by one of the Party's legal 
theoreticians, Nguyen Sy Dzung.  Dzung, Deputy Chief of the 
Office of the National Assembly in Hanoi and a current member of 
the Prime Minister's research board, wrote that "the supremacy 
of law must be put above the government and political parties". 
Dzung cautioned against Vietnam adopting the "Chinese concept" 
of rule of law, which he defined as the State using law to rule 
its people (rule-by-law).  In a separate article, Tuoi Tre 
quoted Pham Chi Lan, another member of the Prime Minister's 
research board and former chairwoman of the Vietnam Chamber of 
Commerce and Industry, reiterating her view that, to accelerate 
economic growth, the Party should drop its policy that the 
State-owned sector act as the "leading force" in the economy. 
On March 10, the Internet edition of Tuoi Tre also published an 
article by Nguyen Khac Mai, a retired senior official of the 
Party's Committee on Mass Mobilization.  Mai argued that "to 
exercise real democracy, Vietnam needs more freedom of speech 
and freedom of press" and "true freedom of association." 
 
¶3. (SBU) On March 17, HCMC-based Phap Luat "The Law" newspaper 
ran an article that questioned the continuing relevance of 
Article 4 of the Constitution, which defines the Communist 
Party's role as the "leading force of the state and society." 
The author, Tran Dinh But, a member of the Prime Minister's 
research board and Vice Chairman of the HCMC Association of 
Economic and Management Sciences, argued that Article 4 was 
appropriate during wartime but now needed reconsideration.  He 
stated that "the Party cannot put itself above the law."  He 
also challenged the "socialist orientation" of the Party's "rule 
of law" model outlined in its draft political report, arguing 
that socialism is irrelevant to the establishment of rule of 
law. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In the run-up to the 14th Plenum, Phap Luat also 
published two articles by HCMC-based attorney Le Cong Dinh. 
One introduced the concepts of "separation of powers" and 
"checks and balances."  In his second article, Dinh argued that 
the country is in a "crisis of trust," in which opportunists are 
"feasting on the nation." He called on Vietnamese to overcome 
their fears of change. (Note:  Dinh, as a Vice-Chairman of the 
HCMC Bar Association, attracted the ire of the Party when he 
published an article calling for political pluralism in Vietnam 
on the BBC Vietnamese language website.  Party officials 
reportedly urged Dinh to avoid further controversy. End Note. 
See Ref A for more detail.) 
 
Hitting Hard on Corruption 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) HCMC dailies also continued their heavy (and critical) 
coverage of a multi-million dollar corruption and gambling 
scandal involving senior officials of an agency of the Ministry 
of Transportation.  During a raid on a gambling ring, the police 
found that senior officials responsible for managing ODA-funded 
transportation infrastructure projects -- the PMU-18 unit -- 
were betting millions of dollars on individual soccer games.  In 
its coverage, Tuoi Tre not only attacked the Ministry for its 
lack of oversight, but also showcased the ineffectiveness of the 
Party's "6/2 Committee," its internal waste, malfeasance and 
anti-corruption watchdog.  The newspaper described in detail the 
lifestyle, ill-gotten assets, and mistresses of the Director of 
PMU-18 (Project Management Unit), who also was the head of the 
PMU-18 Party cell.  Tuoi Tre ran similar exposes of the previous 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000320  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
heads of PMU-18 and of the son-in-law of Vice Minister of 
Transportation Nguyen Viet Tien, indirectly accusing the 
son-in-law of money laundering for Tien, and publishing detailed 
descriptions of the main culprits' networks of agencies, 
relationships and companies that are described as "the 
backyard".  (Tien was the first director of PMU-18.)  Even the 
usually bland and statist Saigon Giai Phong, the official 
mouthpiece of the Party in HCMC, carried reports strongly 
critical of the Party in the PMU-18 case. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment:  The Party earlier invited comment on the 
draft political report -- the policy framework for the upcoming 
Party Congress -- for the month of February.  The Party 
subsequently made it clear that it considered the window for 
public comment closed.  In the past, failure to heed similar 
deadlines has led to censure and punishment, but this has not 
been the case thus far this year. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The new series of corruption and reform articles 
appears timed to coincide with and influence the Party's 14th 
Plenum deliberations.  HCMC media continued to broaden the scope 
of discussion to encompass political and economic issues it had 
avoided during the February-March round of comments on the 
political report, focusing on issues such as the rule of law and 
the role of State-owned enterprises in the economy.  The 
questioning of  Article 4 of the Constitution appears 
unprecedented. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Although Tuoi Tre has been branding itself as an 
anti-corruption watchdog (the pole position on its website, for 
example, goes to a banner link allowing readers to download the 
text of the new anti-corruption law passed in November 2005), 
there also may be a political subtext to the aggressive 
reporting on the PMU-18 corruption case.  A reliable contact in 
HCMC alleged that Vice Minister Tien is linked to Party General 
Secretary Nong Duc Manh.  This contact and others added that a 
 
SIPDIS 
relative of Manh's is an official in PMU-18.  In any case, the 
widening PMU-18 scandal has discomfited the Party enough for 
Politburo member and Permanent Secretary of the Party Central 
Committee Phan Dien to have spoken out in defense of the Party's 
anti-corruption efforts in Nhan Dan, the Party's newspaper. 
Dien is the head of the Party's anti-corruption "6/2" committee. 
 End Comment. 
WINNICK