VIETNAM'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TENTATIVELY

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