The Heinrich Boell Foundation (HBF), affiliated with the Green Party and headquartered in Berlin, is a legally independent political foundation working in the spirit of intellectual openness. Its activities encompass more than 130 projects in 60 countries that have been developed with local partners. The Foundation's primary objective is to support political education both within Germany and abroad, thus promoting democratic involvement, socio-political activism, and cross-cultural understanding. The Foundation also provides support for art and culture, science and research, and developmental co- operation. HBF's activities are guided by the fundamental political values of ecology, democracy, solidarity, and non-violence. The German Institute for International and Security Affairs of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) is an independent scientific establishment that conducts practically oriented research on the basis of which it then advises the Bundestag (the German parliament) and the federal government on foreign and security policy issues. A traditional Myanmarese/Burmese painting (circa 1880) depicting the King and Queen holding a For further information please visit: 'Hluttaw' or parliament meeting with four Chief Ministers and other palace officials in the absence of their www.boell.de subjects or representatives. www.swp-berlin.de (Victoria and Albert Museum, Great Britain; http://www.vam.ac.uk/) Active Citizens Under Political Wraps: Experiences from Myanmar/Burma and Vietnam Active Citizens Under Political Wraps: Experiences from Myanmar/Burma and Vietnam Edited by the Heinrich Boell Foundation Southeast Asia Regional Office First edition, Thailand, Chiang Mai 2006 © Heinrich-Boell-Stiftung Photo Front Page: Traditional Myanmarese/Burmese painting (parabeik), circa 1880 © Photo Back Page: Martin Grossheim Printing: Santipab Pack-Print, Chiang Mai, Thailand Copyeditors: Zarni, JaneeLee Cherneski, Yong-Min (Markus) Jo ISBN 974-94978-3-X Contact Address: Heinrich Boell Foundation Southeast Asia Regional Office P.O. Box 119 Chiang Mai University Post Office Chiang Mai 50202, Thailand; Phone: +66-053-810430-2 E-Mail: [email protected]; Internet: www.hbfasia.org Contents Acknowledgements v Heike Foreword 1 Loeschmann Chapter 1 Introduction Joerg Societal and Political Change in Vietnam. 9 Wischermann An Instructive Example for Myanmar/Burma? Introductory and Conceptual Reflections Gerhard Will Political and Societal Change in 26 Myanmar/Burma and Vietnam. Old Limitations and New Chances for Civic Organizations Adam Fforde Economic Process and Its Role in 31 Conservative Transition: Reflections on Vietnamese Experience and Implications for Myanmar/Burma Chapter 2 Societal and Political Change in Vietnam and Myanmar/Burma: The Pluralism of Societal Practices at Commune Level David Koh Politics at the Ward Level in Hà Nội 55 Khin Zaw Win Transition in a Time of Siege: The Pluralism 74 of Societal and Political Practices at Ward/Village Level in Myanmar/Burma iii Chapter 3 Patterns of Societal and Political Change in Vietnam and Myanmar/Burma: The Diversification of Socio-Political Practices at Ward/Commune Level Nguyen Quang Civic Organizations in Ho Chi Minh City: 93 Vinh Their Activities and Aims, Room to Manoeuvre, Relationship with Governmental Organizations at Local Level Mai Ni Ni Aung Creating Space in Myanmar/Burma. 106 Preserving the Traditions of Ethnic Minority Groups: A Catalyst for Community Building Jasmin Lorch Do Civil Society Actors Have Any Room for 120 Manoeuvre in Myanmar/Burma? Locating Gaps in the Authoritarian System Chapter 4 Building Pluralism and Institutions: Towards a Change in Governance and Governance Culture(s)? Thaveeporn Public Administration Reform and Practices 143 Vasavakul of Co-Governance: Towards a Change in Governance and Governance Cultures in Vietnam Alex Mutebi Changing Governance and Governance 166 Culture in Myanmar/Burma: Some Thoughts Chapter 5 Conclusion Zarni Thinking Politics Sociologically: Engaging 189 with the State and Society in Vietnam and Myanmar/Burma iv Acknowledgements Special thanks are due to Dr. Joerg Wischermann. He ably wrote the workshop’s key concept notes which served as the framework for this Roundtable. Indeed, his input for the active participants’ contributions to the Roundtable and the discussion about their contributions thereafter was crucial for the success of the event. Thanks are also due to Dr. Gerhard Will for his comments on earlier versions of the concept notes. The Foundation also would like to register appreciation for Dr. Heike Loeschmann who conceived the idea for this comparative seminar and with great power of endurance made this book possible. Olga Duchniewska assisted her reliably and with accuracy all along in the process. We also want to acknowledge Carsten Kloepfer who patiently worked on the cover design. We are grateful to both Ms. Jasmin Lorch, who assisted in organizing the Roundtable, especially in the key preparatory stages and Mr. Yong-Min (Markus) Jo who cheerfully served as the local guide and resource person, taking care of the invited guests, first-timers in Berlin, during their stay. The Foundation is very grateful to Dr. Zarni and Yong-Min (Markus) Jo for their work as copyeditors. Finally, we thank Professor Barbara Harriss-White, Queens Elisabeth House, Oxford for suggesting the nuanced title for this book. v vi Foreword The essays in this volume were originally discussed at the two-day roundtable entitled “Societal and Political Change in Vietnam: An Instructive Example for Myanmar/Burma?” held in Berlin, Germany from 31 March through 1 April 2006. The seminar was organized by the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Berlin in cooperation with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. The purpose of the roundtable was not so much to compare the two countries which commonly share certain specifics in terms of their respective forms and processes of governance as to gain insight into a fascinating process by which pockets of citizens in both countries attempt to engage with sub-national level state institutions so that their local needs and desires are met, in spite of their seeming powerlessness at the hands of their respective states. Both the presenters and participants were drawn from a diverse group of researchers, academics, and practitioners from Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar/Burma and Germany, as well as a handful of German government officials who have keen interest in and first-hand knowledge of Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam and Myanmar/Burma. Furthermore, the roundtable benefited significantly from the active participation by a small but representative group of pro-democracy activists based along the Thai–Myanmarese/Burmese border, the area which often falls outside the sphere of the state’s control in Myanmar/Burma. The essays were written and presented by academics and practitioners whose research and practice are grounded in the day-to- day politics of life as lived by ordinary citizens in Vietnam and Myanmar/Burma, be they Vietnamese families, struggling to make ends meet in a society, in which the gap between rich and poor is widening more and more or local NGO workers in Myanmar/Burma who deploy creative ways to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS under the watchful eyes of the “national security state”. The essays can therefore be loosely placed under the broad – and contested – framework of “civil society”. 1 Over the past two decades, policy makers and academics have dusted off the concept of “civil society” and put it back in circulation. Having lived through the failed popular revolutions in China, Myanmar/Burma (or lack of them as in the case of Vietnam) many pro-change activists on the ground and scholars sympathetic to the mission of political reform have become disillusioned with either the omnipotent and unfettered Free Market or the all-Mighty State to deliver on their promise (of a better life). This popular disillusionment helps explain, in part, the growing popularity of the notion of “civil society” and the various ways in which “ordinary citizens” interact, negotiate, undermine or cooperate with a myriad of state institutions at all levels. Amidst the raging contemporary debates on what constitutes “civil society”1 – which are often ideologically and culturally driven – the search for a productive way (or ways) to understand how change is not only conceivable but also happening in a society of one of the few remaining socialist countries and military-ruled Myanmar/Burma. The essays here puncture a hole in the conventional wisdom that change is revolutionary only when there is the obvious change of guards, putting the spot light on the concrete ways citizens are able to fight for their felt needs and social desires. In that sense, the essays present a new way of defining what constitutes legitimate pro- democracy, pro-change politics. I am confident that the evolutionary and creative search of the authors for a future of local communities against all odds will in the long run produce substantial change in terms of state-society relations and emergence of a pro-active, self-governing citizenry. The concrete narratives and in-depth analyses here can – and should – serve as a basis for discussions in policy and other concerned circles that are looking for more constructive and strategic ways to support local communities and individuals in Vietnam and Myanmar/Burma in 1 See also: “Towards Good Society. Civil Society Actors, the State, and the Business Class in Southeast