VIETNAM'S GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY DECREES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 001883

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM VM DPOL
SUBJECT: VIETNAM'S GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY DECREES

Reftel: 04 Hanoi 1454


1. (U) Summary: Vietnam's grassroots democracy decrees
represent a fundamental change in governance at the local
level. The decrees, first issued in 1998 and revised in
2003, require local governments to act in a more open
manner; posting budgets, taking comments on land use and
economic development plans, holding votes on mandatory
contribution to local infrastructure development projects,
and elections for village chiefs, among other requirements.
Implementation of these changes has been mixed. Many local
officials are not well trained about the decrees and lack
the manpower to implement them. Typically they are
implemented better in urban areas, where better-educated
citizens push for their rights, than they are in rural ones.
Where well-implemented, the decrees have resulted in a more
transparent system of local government. Vietnam's top down
control of budgets and infrastructure projects make many of
the initiatives ostensibly permitted by the decrees
impossible to achieve in reality. Nonetheless, grassroots
democracy is a trend that cannot be rolled back and promises
to continue to expand transparency and accountability at the
local level. End Summary.

The First Grassroots Democracy Decree
--------------


2. (U) The first grassroots democracy decree was issued in
May 1998, prompted largely by extended and violent protests
by small farmers against government officials in Thai Binh
Province the previous year. The Thai Binh unrest was
provoked by a number of grievances, including corruption
among local officials, land disputes, high taxation rates,
non-market based rice prices and compulsory labor
contributions to national infrastructure projects. Drafted
in accordance with the Party's guideline that "the people
know, the people discuss, the people do, and the people
monitor," the decree enacted, at least on paper, fundamental
changes to the manner in which local governments operated.
Among these were requirements that authorities must publicly
post new State laws and local government budgets, consult
with citizens on land use and economic development plans,
and that citizens themselves would decide the levels of
contribution (often in terms of donated labor) for public
works.


3. (SBU) Grassroots democracy has recently gained a great
deal of political support, at least at the national level.
In the 2001 Ninth Party Congress, delegates widely praised
the decree as a fundamental step in encouraging economic
development at the local level. However, the 1998 decree
was reportedly drafted quickly and many of its provisions
were open ended, limiting its impact. To Kim Lien, a
program manager at the Asia Foundation's Hanoi office,
suggested that this lack of specificity allowed some
"motivated" localities to make rapid changes. More common
was the reaction of officials who were reluctant to consult
with citizens on what they considered to be issues too
complex for them to understand, Lien noted.

The Current Grassroots Democracy Decree
--------------


4. (U) The 1998 decree was replaced in July 2003 by the
second grassroots democracy decree (officially Decree No. 79
on Promulgating the Regulation on the Exercise of Democracy
in Communes). As with its predecessor, the second
grassroots democracy decree is divided into a series of
categories based on the obligation of local authorities and
role of the people.

"Works to be informed to the people," include commune
development plans, land use plans, commune budgets, poverty
alleviation plans and results of corruption investigations.
This is to be done through public posting of written
documents, explanations through village loudspeaker systems,
and meetings between commune-level People's Council
delegates and their constituents, among other means.

"Works to be discussed and directly decided by the people"
include infrastructure and public welfare projects,
including schools, roads, and health facilities,
establishing boards to oversee the construction of public
works, and the protection of security, order, and
environmental sanitation. Discussions and voting on these
activities are to be coordinated by the Fatherland Front.

"Works to be discussed by the people and decided by the
commune administration" include draft resolutions of commune
People's Councils, commune-level socioeconomic development
plans, zoning issues, compensation for appropriated land,
and employment programs. These discussions are to be
organized by the Fatherland Front.

Finally, "works to be supervised and inspected by the
people" include the implementation of commune People's
Council resolutions, settlement of complaints and cases of
corruption. This is to be enacted by direct invitations to
the people to review issues or cases, or through individuals
submitting questions or receiving reports through their
"representative organization" (such as their trade union,
the Women's Union, or the Fatherland Front).

The Decree also requires that once every six months, village
meetings must be held to discuss population issues, poverty
alleviation, public and social order, and the implementation
of people's council resolutions. Villages also name a
village chief by direct election. The chief coordinates
meetings and activities at the village level in conjunction
with the Fatherland Front, and reports on citizens' concerns
to the commune level people's committee.


5. (SBU) Ngo Thi Tam, Deputy Director of the Department of
Local Authorities at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA),
described the first grassroots democracy decree as "not
complete," and said the new decree more thoroughly outlined
the responsibilities of local officials to implement
grassroots democracy, and the ways in which local citizens
should become involved in its implementation. The second
decree specified in more detail the types of projects that
citizens are to be informed of, stated that citizens'
decisions are to be made by majority vote, described more
fully the manner in which people are to supervise projects,
and made commune level people's committee chairmen
specifically accountable for the implementation of the
decree.

Implementation Varies...
--------------


6. (SBU) Spreading understanding of the grassroots democracy
decree remains a major challenge. Implementation falls
under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which
conducts training programs for district and commune
officials on the decree. Citing a 2004 study, the GVN
claimed in press reports that the grassroots decree was
being implemented in 100 percent of the nation's communes.
Mrs. Tam acknowledged that implementation varied from place
to place and cautioned that development of citizen
participation at the lowest levels is "a long term process,"
but "the Government is fully committed to it."


7. (SBU) Ms. Lien of the Asia Foundation questioned the
effectiveness of the GVN's training efforts. She said that
the claim of "100 percent implementation" simply meant an
official from each commune had participated in some level of
training about the decree. The Asia Foundation had
initially cooperated in such training, but found that the
MHA tended to provide long, complex lectures for groups of
70 or so officials whom it then expected them to become
trainers for other officials.


8. (SBU) According to one 2004 Party analysis, grassroots
democracy was being implemented "effectively" in only 38
percent of communes. Ministry of Home Affairs oversight of
the effectiveness of implementation of the decree rests
largely on measuring quantitative factors. All officials
are required to keep files on their efforts to spread
understanding of the decree, and the MHA judges how active
they have been by reading accounts of training programs or
looking at the quantity of information sheets prepared and
distributed to the participants, Mrs. Tam explained. Tam
acknowledged that some local authorities did not welcome the
additional oversight of their activities, but characterized
this as "not a major problem." "People are aware of the
grassroots Democracy Decrees, and if they don't believe that
they are being implemented, they can file complaints with
higher level officials," she explained. Mrs. Lien said that
the Asia Foundation had generally found that these days,
local officials were not hostile to the further oversight
the decree provided, but rather did not understand it and
even after training were at a loss as to how to implement it
effectively.


9. (SBU) Pamela McElwee, a United Nations Development
Program contractor, said that her research had shown that
grassroots democracy had been quite well implemented in
urban areas where the population is better educated, but
things were little changed in rural ones. In Vietnam's
cities, some citizens had taken the time to read and
interpret the decrees, and push local authorities to
implement them appropriately. In less well-educated rural
areas, however, "little has changed." McElwee also noted
that the decree gave officials and mass organizations many
new duties, but did not provide incentives to allocate
additional funds or personnel to carry this out. As a
result, how well the decrees were implemented depended on
the individual motivation of local officials.

... as does Impact
--------------


10. (SBU) McElwee described the situation in Ho Chi Minh
City as a "best case scenario" for the results of the
decree, but admitted that results there fall short of what
the decree seemed to allow on paper. In Ho Chi Minh City,
local authorities regularly hold meetings to explain plans
or decisions, and new programs are set forth in a "clear and
transparent manner," she said. The high population density
of Ho Chi Minh City made such meetings easier to attend, and
combined with the relatively well-educated population, this
led to a sense of "bottom-up pressure." McElwee noted,
however, that while budgets and infrastructure projects are
theoretically to be reviewed and decided by the people,
official funds are distributed through a highly centralized
system in all of Vietnam. As a result, the ability of local
officials or citizens to enact in new initiatives is very
limited.


11. (SBU) Nonetheless, McElwee believed that the decree had
"opened the door to a level of discussion that did not exist
in the past." She saw one of the biggest impacts in the
ability of international NGOs and donors to engage in
projects with local officials to set up local initiatives
and community organizations. (Note: The USG is currently
funding a USD 31,000 Human Rights and Democracy Fund Project
in conjunction with a Vietnamese NGO to develop and carry
out a more effective and comprehensive training course for
commune-level officials and mass organization members on the
grassroots democracy decree. The NGO will also set up local
legal advice organizations where citizens can find out more
about their rights. These organizations will be advised on
a volunteer basis by university students studying law.
Reftel.)


12. (SBU) Looking to the future, Mrs. Tam of the MHA
suggested that the next step for grassroots democracy will
be to raise it to a law, a process that would involve it
being openly debated in the National Assembly (decrees are
issued directly by the Prime Minister). Mrs. Lien suggested
the Government is currently considering the possibility of
furthering grassroots democracy by allowing referenda on
specific subjects. Ms. McElwee reported that officials she
had met with mentioned moves to enact direct elections of
commune-level People's Committee Chairmen, and perhaps
removing the Fatherland Front's role in vetting candidates.

Comment
--------------


13. (SBU) The two grassroots democracy decrees represent a
fundamental move towards a more open and transparent
governing system at the level that affects the majority of
citizens. The functional result of this change has
progressed slowly, perhaps glacially in rural areas, but
these are reforms that cannot be rolled back. We recognize
that this is democracy in a Vietnamese sense: greater
opportunities for public participation, but still within the
context of a one-party system. Still, the Mission is
pleased to be able to fund a project that serves to deepen
the impact of grassroots democracy in Vietnam.

MARINE