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The Politics of Anti-Corruption and Integrity System Reform in Vietnam

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The Politics of Anti-Corruption and Integrity System Reform in Vietnam Human Rights and Peace in Southeast Asia Series 4: CHALLENGING THE NORMS 55 THE POLITICS OF ANTI-Corruption AND INTEGRITY System REFORM IN Vietnam Bui Hai Thiem Anti-corruption is a critical area of governance across Southeast Asia but it still lacks sufficient attention at ASEAN’s political agenda. In Vietnam, corruption has long been considered as a serious threat to both the national development, the very survival of the regime and a cause of violations of human rights. Various corrupt practices have been identified and tackled by party-state agencies through reforms, notably legal and judiciary reforms in parallel with efforts to protect and promote human rights. Various efforts by the party-state to efforts to build and strengthen the national integrity system have been put in place and broad engagement and cooperation with the international community through anti-corruption dialogues have been underway. However, corruption is still rampant. In that context, civil society has emerged as a key pillar in the integrity system despite the continuing anathema by the party-state over the development of civil society. The paper critically examines the integrity system reform and civil society processes and actions in influencing anti-corruption politics. The analysis of a high-profile case in Vietnam will shed clearer light onto the contestations in civil society over the anti-corruption politics and practice. Civil society has become a substantial force to establish a moral high ground in anti-corruption governance. 56 Bui Hai Thiem 1. Introduction In the political discourse of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) leadership, corruption has been described as major threat to the survival of the regime and Vietnam’s national development. This was publicly recognized at the mid-term CPV Congress in January 1994. Formal commitments to fight corruption have been reiterated in various CPV’s resolutions, state laws and political leaders’ discourses.i Beginning as party affair, anti- corruption has become a critical area of governance for the party-state. Various efforts by the party-state to build and strengthen the national integrity system have been put in place and broad engagement and cooperation with the international community through anti-corruption dialogues have been underway. However, corruption is still rampant and the post-Doi Moi period is accompanied with increased corruption (Gainsborough 2010: 50). In that context, civil society has emerged as a key pillar in the integrity system despite the continuing anathema by the party-state over the development of civil society. As a high level of corruption is an indicator of severe legitimacy problems for the regime (Holmes 2007: 17), the party-state has been considering and implementing integrity- based reforms to tackle this issue. These reforms have opened up political space for civil society actors to influence the construction of new norms and practices in anti-corruption governance. Furthermore, corruption has been identified as the cause of various violations of human rights (International Council on Human Rights Policy 2009). Thus, to honour its commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights, the party-state has to place anti-corruption high on its political agenda. The interaction between anti-corruption and protection and promotion of human rights has generated profound dynamics for the more meaningful participation from different social actors in this area of governance. In the absence of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as an independent force that can mount outright challenges to corrupt practices by powerful party-state institutions and officials, non-state actors are increasingly circumvent and transcending the party-state as agents of integrity-based reforms. Civil society processes and actions have sought to establish a moral high ground in anti-corruption governance. Despite inherent tension and contestation in these processes, the party-state can no longer exclude or discount the role of civil society in this critical area of governance. This paper will first outline the context of anti-corruption politics. It is followed by a discussion of integrity-based reforms that have been under way. The roles and participation of civil society actors will subsequently be critically examined. The paper will critically examine the integrity system and civil society processes and actions in influencing anti- corruption politics. The analysis of some recent high-profile cases in Vietnam will shed clearer light onto the contestations in civil society over the anti-corruption politics and practice. This paper draws from a wide range of sources including interviews, government documents, statistics, and media analysis. The Politics of Anti-Corruption and Integrity System Reform 57 in Vietnam 2. Background to Anti- Corruption Politics in Vietnam The CPV has made formal commitments to fight corruption and showcased various efforts to build and strengthen the national integrity system since Doi Moi. The commitment has become an underpinning pillar for the anti-corruption strategy in the state apparatus in the years to follow. The political discourse of the threat posed by corruption has been transformed into legal rules and norms in combating corruption. Significant changes in the legal framework included more severe punishments for acts of corruption. It specifies the range of actions considered illegitimate and unlawful in relation to corruption. The amendments to the Criminal Code in 1992 introduced death penalty for some acts of corruption (Amendment to Article 225 on receiving bribes). One of the first high profile anti-corruption trials took place in January 1997 and Pham Huy Phuoc, Director of Tamexco, a state-owned company, was found guilty of embezzling about US$30 million and sentenced to death. The year 1997 was marked with the massive protests by peasants in Thai Binh province in which widespread corruption among local officials was a major cause (Tuong Lai 1997; Kerkvliet 2003: 47-49). Facing with the increasingly serious situation of corruption, Vietnam’s first anti-corruption legislation known as the 1998 Anti-Corruption Ordinance was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to strengthen regulative rules against corruption. The 1999 Criminal Code had a separate chapter (Chapter XXI, Part A) on corruption crimes and maintained the death penalty. With a legal framework on addressing corruption in place, the party-state started to increasingly use the court to address corrupt practices of officials and party members. As argued by Gainsborough (2003: 69) this practice was new in the 1990s as the party traditionally used designated party institution (the Control Committee) to discipline wrong-doing party members. Along with legislative measures on anti-corruption, the party has intensified efforts to build the integrity system and the norms which set standards and/or expectations that govern and control the behaviour of party members and public officials. A major milestone for these efforts was the second Resolution of the sixth plenum of the 8th Tenure Central Committeeii in 1999 on ‘some fundamental and urgent issues of party-building’ and the launch of an anti-corruption campaign based on the traditional socialist tenet of criticism and self-criticism. Accordingly, a steering committee was established by the CPV Central Committee to fight corruption in party cells and members.iii Following this commitment, a number of high-ranking officials involving corruption had been disciplined. Ngo Xuan Loc, Deputy Prime Minister and a member of the CPV Central Committee was dismissed from office in December 1999. Two members of the CPV Central Committee holding senior positions in the state agencies were sacked in July 2002 and later imprisoned due to their involvement in a large-scale corruption case with a mafia boss Nam Cam.iv This steering committee played a critical role in addressing a number of high-profile cases between 1999 and 2006 such as Nam Cam, PMU18, the trading of garment and textile export quotas at the Ministry of Trade, and the land grab case in Do Son (Hai Phong city). While the widely publicized anti-corruption trials demonstrate the commitment by the party-state, 58 Bui Hai Thiem they are ‘equally an indicator of the pervasiveness of the problem’ (Dosch 2009: 379). The heavy media coverage of corruption also helps shaped the public perception of corruption in the country. The media plays a key role in the frontline of anti-corruption campaigns. In order to strengthen the integrity system across the state institutions, the 2005 Anti- Corruption Law replacing the 1998 Ordinance formalized the establishment of a central anti-corruption steering committee headed by the Prime Minister to coordinate national efforts. The implementation of this law should be seen in light of anti-corruption governance after the CPV National Congress in 2006. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung took office in June 2006 with a strong commitment to combat corruption. The 2005 anti- corruption law was amended in 2007, paving the way for consolidating the centralized authority of the Prime Minister in overseeing anti-corruption governance (Article 73). In fact, while there were more centralized measures taken to tackle corruption, more tightening control had been applied to the press in reporting corruption. And despite a strong political commitment and centralized measures, the period following the 2006 Party Congress is notably marked with an
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