* POW/MIA BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT AGAIN
According to international news agencies, when they met at APEC forum in Kuala Lumpur, US Vice President Al Gore asked Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov Tuesday, November 17 for help to find evidence of whether American POWs in the Vietnam War were sent to the former Soviet Union for interrogation.
Gore requested in his letter given to Primakov that Russian military records be open to American investigators so they can search for any evidence relating to the allegation. Primakov promised to help.
The story of Vietnam War American POWs brought to the Soviet Union has arisen since the recent release of the memoirs of the late Russian military historian, General Dmitry Volkogonov. In the memoirs, Volkogonov said he had heard such a plan. He died in December 1995. He wrote that he had tried but failed to confirm the existence of such a plan.
Hanoi always angrily denies such allegations.
So far, the US government officials haven't had much effort for more intense investigation on the issue because the lack of supporting evidence. The common Vietnamese however, are more skeptical.
Although they haven't had any concrete evidence, they believe strongly that such plan did exist. There were a great number of North Vietnamese who saw American POWs on military trucks moving them from one camp to another long after Hanoi declared that the last POW had been released. Some Communist security officials and army officers even said that they were certain that American POWs had been sent to both China and the Soviet Union.
The self-claimed witnesses' reports could be credible because most of them contain some common details that eliminate any possibility of their originating from the same source or from imagination.
When Washington confirmed recently that Hanoi has been willingly cooperative on the MIA issue, many Vietnamese émigrés didn't think so.
* FUTURE U.S. INVESTMENT IN VIETNAM
On Nov 13, President of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, Mr. Ernest Bower said that "We predicted that we would in 10 years increase U.S. investments in Vietnam by a factor of 10. This would basically mean moving from $1 billion to $10 billion. Our companies see so much potential in that country."
He added. "Our investments could easily move up to number one position if the country moves forward on making it a better place to do business."
The U.S. is currently the eighth largest investor in Vietnam despite the absence of a formal U.S.-Vietnam trade agreement.
A council delegation of 10 U.S. businessmen held discussions with Hanoi Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on November 11-12. The council represents some 400 U.S. American companies. Bower said the council hopes to see a U.S.-Vietnam trade agreement in place before the end of 1999.
Hanoi government has seen foreign investments slump this year. For the first nine months of 1998, they were at $1.65 billion from a total of $4.5 billion last calendar year and $8.6 billion in 1996.
Larger investments from foreign investors are what all Vietnamese welcome and greatly appreciate. However, the Vietnamese always question the Hanoi Communist government capability to manage an economy so large.
The most necessary tool to run a free economy is a judicial system of fair and effective laws, regulations and courts. The today's Vietnam lacks all of those. Most laws contain vague terms, leaving explanation of many provisos to the judges. Moreover, laws and regulations are subjected to radical changes overnight without prior notice. Half of the judges have not graduated primary school, let alone college.
Moreover, the situation is seriously exacerbated by incurable corruption and staggering red tape. Therefore, it is well known that most of statistics compiled from reports of local governments are not accurate and far from reality.
All of that mentioned above do not favor businesses with large investments which require long range planning. Every investor should be cautioned against unpredictable actions of the Communist authorities at all levels and sudden changes of any law.
* FORMER TOP RULER ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION
Sources from Vietnam this week reported that four veteran Communist Party members in Ha Noi publicly sent their letter of denunciation against the former Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) General Secretary Do Muoi of corruption and called for democracy.
The open letter was sent on October 25, 1998 to the chairman of Hanoi parliament and prime minister, demanding all-round democracy, full swing economic reforms, and a law abiding government.
The four men, Hoang Thuy Viet, Le Manh Nam, Doan Dan Thuc and Tran Chi Tinh, are residents of Hanoi.
According to the letter, Do Muoi received one million US dollars from the South Korean economic groups while Muoi was visiting South Korea. The letter said Muoi "has pocketed the money." The fact that South Korean magnates gave Muoi one million dollars has been confirmed by a news report on Nhan Dan daily, VCP official newspaper dated Sept 17, 1998.
The authors of the letter also accuse Do Muoi's son-in-law of illegally accumulating a huge fortune.
In the letter, the four men compared the current situation in Vietnam with that in Indonesia, where "people of both countries are under brutal ruling of dictatorship, and the uprising for freedom in Indonesia is worth noticing and pondering."
A portion of the letter raises questions whether former and current leaders of the Communist regime had been bribed with so much or more money. It also argues the legitimacy of top leaders pocketing large amounts of money donation or keeping expensive gifts as one's own. The men even asks that other leaders should release information about all donations, cash and kind, that they had been given.
The other issue in the letter questions the very existence of the so-called "The Advisors Committee." It said the old, ailing former leaders in the role of advisors are incapable and could do nothing to help the country, and they should be dismissed.
Do Muoi, born 1917 in North Vietnam, was admitted by the VCP when he was a teenager who earned his living as an itinerant spaying hand (castrating pigs), with formal education not higher than the 3rd grade. He quickly became a faithful cadre of the party and was appointed important jobs in the party. He became a member of the VCP Central Committee in 1960.
He conducted the failed campaign to reform South Vietnam economy in 1978.
In 1991 he was elected general secretary of the VCP until December 1997 when Le Kha Phieu replaced him.
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