Vietnam's leader goes to the people - online

Sat, Feb. 10, 2007

He fielded questions on subjects trivial and serious. "A good start," one Hanoi resident said.

By Margie Mason

Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam's prime minister was host to the country's highest-level online chat yesterday, answering questions about everything from corruption to his personal life - a clear break from old-style communism in the rapidly changing country.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung answered questions preselected from more than 20,000 sent from across Vietnam and abroad. He also fielded a few live questions during the 21/2-hour chat and did not shy away from thorny issues, including the lack of press freedom, the Vietnam War, and government seizure of farmers' land for development.

"Why did you sign a decree strictly banning privatization of the press in any form?" asked someone with the screen name Pham Duong Quoc Tuan. "Doesn't it go against the goal of freedom and democracy that you are striving for?"

Dung defended the recent decision to keep the country's 600 media outlets under state control, prohibiting a free press. "The decree was in line with Vietnamese law and in accordance with the aspirations of most of the people," he answered.

Dung, 57, appointed in June, is Vietnam's youngest prime minister, known as a reformer. Long groomed for the job, he has a record of fostering economic growth.

At age 12, Dung was a messenger for Viet Cong guerrillas fighting U.S.-backed South Vietnam. He later battled U.S. troops during the war, which ended in 1975 when the North reunified the country.

"You used to fight against the U.S. and had vindictive hatred for the U.S. What did you think when you sent your son to study in the U.S.?" asked someone with the screen name Jeremy Taylor.

He acknowledged his hatred for the United States during the war, "but we do not hate the American people."

He said: "My son is working for the Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture, and he was sent to the U.S. to study by Vietnam's Ministry of Education... . The party and the government now want to leave the war behind to build up a good relationship with the U.S."

Many people saw the online dialogue as a good way to address their problems and help them feel more connected to the country's head of government.

Past leaders have taken a more formal approach, reading speeches at events and avoiding questions from the international media. But Dung often speaks without notes and has vowed to be more in touch with the public.

"I don't know whether the issues we raised to our leaders will be addressed or not," Hanoi taxi driver Nguyen Trung Van said while sipping tea on the street. "But this is a good start, because we need a channel to communicate with our leaders."

Despite the frank online discussion, Internet use is still tightly controlled in Vietnam. Cyber dissidents have been jailed after posting pro-democracy messages online, and Vietnam requires identification at Internet cafes, where users are monitored and some sites are blocked. Many rules, however, are largely ignored as Web use booms in a country where two-thirds of the 84 million people are under 30.