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Viewing cable 05HANOI3334, VIETNAM'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TENTATIVELY

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
05HANOI3334 2005-12-21 06:06 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Hanoi
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 003334 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV VM SOE DPOL
SUBJECT:  VIETNAM'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TENTATIVELY 
FLEXES ITS MUSCLES 
 
Ref: Hanoi 2780 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: While still fundamentally a rubber 
stamp for official policy, Vietnam's National Assembly 
(NA) has made tentative moves toward a more independent 
role.  It has also become an important tool in the 
Vietnamese Communist Party's limited efforts to reform 
Vietnam's political system, allowing the Party to 
maintain political legitimacy without relinquishing its 
hold on power.  During its year-end session (October 18- 
November 29) the NA approved a record 14 new laws, 
including a significant revision of the anti-corruption 
ordinance, and adopted a resolution asking the 
Government to speed up the issuance of implementing 
decrees.  First time "interaction" between cabinet 
members and delegates made the traditional question-and- 
answer session more frank than usual.  This NA session 
reinforced the Assembly's new role as a check on the 
Government, if not the Communist Party.  End Summary. 
 
New Legislation 
--------------- 
 
2. (SBU) During its year-end session (October 18- 
November 29) Vietnam's National Assembly approved a 
record 14 new laws.  The latest economic bills 
included: a new law governing the GVN's tendering 
process, a revised law regulating business, a new 
unified investment law for international and domestic 
investment, new protections for intellectual property 
rights, an E-transaction law, an act to protect the 
environment, and a housing law (economic laws assessed 
septel).  The NA also revised the law governing public 
complaints and denunciations so that citizens may now 
bring suits against decisions made by State offices. 
(Note: This put the law in conformity with the US- 
Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement provision on 
settlements of disputes.  End note). 
 
3. (SBU) The Assembly also approved a law on combating 
corruption and a new law to promote budgetary thrift 
and criminalize "wastefulness." (Note: The latter, 
developed from an existing ordinance, is mainly aimed 
at misuse of State investment in capital construction 
projects, poor management and exploitation of natural 
and labor resources.  The law on corruption is 
discussed below.  End note.)  The Assembly also passed 
a law codifying the organizational structure of the 
people's police, which emphasized and expanded the role 
of police in society, and ratified the Supplemental 
Border Agreement with Cambodia (reftel). 
 
Tentative Questions About Implementation 
---------------------------------------- 
 
4. (U) One notable feature of this NA session was its 
aggressive (by Vietnamese governance standards) review 
of Executive power: specifically, delegates discussed 
the power of Government officials, including the Prime 
Minister, other Ministers, the People's Supreme Court 
and the Supreme People's Procuracy, to issue regulatory 
documents to explain and enforce Assembly legislation. 
According to an Assembly report, regulatory documents 
issued by those offices and individuals commonly 
contain provisions that are "not in conformity" with 
Assembly laws, regulations and resolutions.  Four to 
five percent of documents issued by ministries and 
branches actually contradict higher-level legislation, 
the report stated.  In addition, delegates complained 
that the Government is slow to issue implementing 
decrees, which actually bring legislation into force. 
(Note: The GVN itself reports that though it was 
supposed to have issued 196 regulatory documents from 
May 2002 to April 2005, it has only issued 120.  A 
further 452 ministerial instructions and circulars have 
not been issued as required.  End Note.)  The Assembly 
adopted a resolution asking the GVN to speed up the 
issuance of the implementing decrees. 
 
Anti-Corruption Measures 
------------------------ 
 
5. (SBU) The Assembly also took a pugnacious attitude 
towards official corruption.  Rounding out the new laws 
on Government tenders and national thrift (which the 
State-controlled media describes as the main pillars of 
the national effort to combat corruption, wastefulness 
and misuse of public property), the NA issued a 
revision to the anti-corruption ordinance promulgated 
in 1998.  This long-awaited law establishes a central 
steering committee on anti-corruption led by the Prime 
Minister and requires annual GVN updates to the NA 
about its work.  The law also creates a form of Freedom 
of Information Act power for media agencies and 
reporters, giving them the right to ask government 
organizations to provide documents relating to 
corruption.  In cases where organizations fail to 
respond, they must give written reasons for withholding 
requested documents.  In addition, civil servants 
holding official titles and duties, including managers 
of State-owned enterprises and army officials, from now 
on will have to declare the assets they, their spouses 
and their juvenile children own.  Asset declarations 
will only be publicized when nominated civil servants 
are approved for office.  These declarations are meant 
to make vested interests more transparent when civil 
servants make decisions regarding public expenditures, 
capital construction, State budget and investment, land 
use and management, personnel issues and settlements of 
public complaints and denunciations. 
 
6. (SBU) In response to public questions put by 
Assembly delegates during the course of this latest 
session, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung 
reportedly admitted that "corruption has not been 
pushed back" and "still remains a serious problem" in 
Vietnam.  Nevertheless, he affirmed Vietnam's 
determination to combat corruption and claimed that the 
GVN has instructed its agencies to effectively increase 
management of land-related issues and the use of public 
property, the two areas of public management most 
commonly connected with corruption.  According to media 
sources, Assembly delegates voiced concern over the 
appropriateness of the Prime Minister taking the lead 
in the anti-corruption fight, and made repeated 
requests that government officials, including cabinet 
members, make a public vow to combat corruption given 
their vested interests.  DPM Dzung reportedly responded 
by expressing his belief that Prime Minister Phan Van 
Khai will be effective as the "commander-in-chief of 
the nation's anti-corruption fight." 
 
Anti-Corruption Action 
---------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) While the Assembly was in session, the 
Standing Committee of the National Assembly (NASC), the 
powerful, appointed executive committee of the NA 
headed by NA Chairman Nguyen Van An, asked the Prime 
Minister to instruct the Ministry of Transportation to 
review the individual responsibility of the Ministry's 
ranking officials with respect to a recent train 
accident in Thua Thien Hue Province.  Similarly, the 
Prime Minister was asked to instruct the Ministry of 
Industry to review responsibility of the head of Petro 
Vietnam, the State-owned oil and gas corporation, with 
respect to corruption cases in its subsidiaries, as 
well as a corruption case involving the Ho Chi Minh 
City Electric Company's provision of a large quantity 
of fake electricity meters to users, which prompted the 
Assembly's dismissal of the delegate who was the 
company's Director.  A senior Office of the National 
Assembly (ONA) staff member told the Embassy's 
Political Specialist that Chairman An has explicitly 
said he supports a proposal to conduct votes of 
confidence on cabinet members and ranking officials on 
a regular basis, every 2.5 years.  According to the Law 
on Organization of the National Assembly, any NA 
committee may request a vote of confidence.  In 
addition, a vote of confidence might be conducted at 
the request of 25 percent of Assembly delegates, though 
delegates are not allowed to lobby other members to 
support such motions.  Such a provision makes any 
process leading to a vote of confidence "a hard nut to 
crack," according to ONA senior advisor Nguyen Chi 
Dzung. 
 
Procedural Changes 
------------------ 
 
8. (SBU) During the year-end session, the Assembly 
introduced new legislative procedures that allow two 
semi-plenary sessions to take place at the same time, 
where delegates may discuss draft laws according to 
their interests.  NASC officials said that the new 
procedure is crucial to speeding up the legislative 
process, which is critical if the NA is to meet the 
ever-increasing demand for new legislation.  However, 
ONA senior staff members believe that the new procedure 
is not satisfactory.  Deputy Director Sy Dzung and ONA- 
affiliated Legislative Affairs Journal former editor-in- 
chief Nguyen Chi Dzung argued that policy-related 
issues must be discussed and agreed upon by the whole 
National Assembly during plenary sessions, to ensure 
true understanding and consensus among Assembly 
delegates.  The various Assembly committees, however, 
should finalize technical issues and specific wording 
of draft laws.  They also underscored that the limited 
number of full-time Assembly delegates, as well as the 
lack of professional staff members, "has hindered the 
Assembly from moving faster."  Twenty-five percent of 
the 498 Delegates work full time in the NA.  The rest 
have other jobs.  Sixty-four run provincial 
parliamentary offices and the rest work for the 
Assembly's committees and the Ethnicity Council. 
 
Public Attention... 
------------------- 
 
9. (U) According to the press, the NA's usual, three- 
day question and answer session with cabinet members 
was followed closely by the public. According to Le 
Quang Binh (NASC member in charge of "people's 
aspirations") "voters want to see cabinet members 
actually promise to take actions to correct misconduct 
... instead of making the usual "acknowledgements" and 
commitments to "try" to work out solutions."  Binh 
asserted that some cabinet members do not take such 
commitments seriously, while the Assembly's Board for 
People's Aspirations sees them as binding promises to 
the NA and voters.  "Those ministers who think they 
bear responsibility, please promise to do even one 
thing, and manage to make it real," especially in the 
areas of corruption and mis-management of public 
property, he urged.  He also noted that these issues 
and the "the ever-widening gap between the rich and the 
poor, and urban and rural areas" have always been prime 
concerns for voters.  All observers noted that this 
attention made this session's Q and A unusually frank. 
 
...leads to Delicate Questions... 
--------------------------------- 
 
10. (U) For the first time, NA delegates were allowed 
to put follow-up questions to cabinet members after 
receiving answers to their initial questions.  The 
Ministers of Education and Training, Labor, 
Agriculture, Investment and Planning, Industry, Natural 
Resources and Environment, Public Health, and 
Transportation; the presiding justice of the Supreme 
People's Court; and, DPM Nguyen Tan Dzung, were all 
questioned.  Many delegates asked how cabinet members 
and ranking GVN officials would be held responsible for 
misconduct and poor management in their areas or 
responsibility.  Some of the toughest questions were 
put to DPM Dzung concerning the GVN's failure to fight 
corruption and misuse of public property. 
 
11. (U) According to press reports, NA Chairman An 
noted that previous Q's and A's in previous Assembly 
sessions had only proven "pleasing to the ears, instead 
of bringing about actual change and improvement;" 
however, this year's Q's and A's were more frank 
(though they did not yet meet public expectations).  He 
asked cabinet members to take more responsibility when 
it comes to answering questions about pending issues 
and requested that delegates be better prepared with 
questions in future.  ONA Deputy Director Dzung 
admitted privately that Assembly delegates are often 
not well informed, which makes it hard for them to come 
up with sharp questions or arguments.  He asserted, 
however, that the newly granted permission for 
delegates to put follow-up questions to cabinet 
ministers made the Q and A session a more "interactive" 
exchange of views. 
 
12. (U) The blunt debate over the responsibility of the 
individual cabinet members, which was widely covered by 
local media, prompted unprecedented rejoinders from 
high ranking GVN officials.  Prime Minister Khai 
publicly asked for "sympathy" from the press with 
respect to their frustrations over cabinet members and 
ranking GVN officials failing to take responsibility 
for mistakes and wrong-doing by lower level Government 
employees.  Repeating a common phrase "the Party does 
personnel issues," Khai said cabinet members basically 
do not have the right to nominate or dismiss their 
employees.  Under the current system, nominations for 
general department directors must be approved by the 
Central Committee's Secretariat, he revealed, and noted 
that "top Government officials responsibilities are 
endless, but the power assigned them is limited."  Khai 
refused to provide specific comments on what he could 
do as Prime Minister to rectify the situation.  "Change 
takes time," he asserted; "nobody knows exactly what 
will happen." 
 
... and Prompts NA's Revised Legislation 
---------------------------------------- 
 
13. (SBU) According to NA sources, members attending an 
ongoing December NASC session support a plan to revise 
the Assembly's Organizing Law.  The revision reportedly 
includes a plan to divide the current Law Committee 
into a Law Committee and Judicial Committee.  The 
Judicial Committee will likely take the lead in 
overseeing GVN's anti-corruption efforts.  According to 
ONA Deputy Director Dzung, the NASC is also leaning in 
favor of another proposed amendment that would require 
fifty percent of elected delegates to the next NA (to 
be elected in 2007) to serve full-time. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
14. (SBU) While still primarily a rubber stamp for 
policies which have been blessed by the Vietnamese 
Communist Party (CPV) and a public relations tool, the 
NA has made tentative moves toward a more independent 
role, at least in voicing open criticism of the GVN. 
Continued criticism of ranking GVN officials by 
Assembly delegates and their well-publicized requests 
for improvements in selected areas is helping nurture a 
public belief that the Assembly actually might have 
some power.  Conversely, public dissatisfaction with 
the GVN has made it harder for the leadership to 
squelch Assembly criticisms. 
 
15. (SBU) Comment continued: Empowering the NA is part 
of the CPV's overall political development strategy. 
Combined with the grassroots democracy movement and a 
long-term push to professionalize the bureaucracy, the 
more independent NA is a key tool in the effort to 
reform the political system in Vietnam to keep pace 
with the social and economic complexities brought on by 
open markets and rapid growth.  The Party is intent on 
maintaining and enhancing its political legitimacy 
without relinquishing its hold on power.  Above all, 
that requires continued public acquiescence, if not 
support.  The policy of empowering the NA, accompanied 
by serious attention to the problem of corruption, 
addresses the population's top complaint (corruption) 
and, it is hoped, draws the public further into the 
political system within carefully defined parameters. 
 
16. (SBU) Comment continued: There is no question that 
the NA's power, particularly measured against the GVN, 
is increasing, and that individual ministers recognize 
that they could find themselves answering difficult 
questions in front of cameras on the NA floor. 
However, the CPV will not allow the growth of an 
independent source of power with direct connections to 
the population, so there is an essential check on the 
NA: the Party dominates the NA's Standing Committee and 
all other positions of responsibility, and the 
Fatherland Front (a Leninist "mass organization" which 
is a parallel organ to the CPV) vets all candidates for 
the Assembly before the election.  The NA is becoming 
stronger and more significant, but it remains very much 
inside the system.  End Comment. 
 
MARINE