The Day Civil Society Got its Nose Bloodied in Hanoi

THIS month, international civil society got its nose bloodied in Hanoi.

To attend the Asia-Europe People's Forum (prelude to the Fifth Asia-Europe Meeting), members of Western civil society groups went to Hanoi expecting to interact with Vietnamese civil society.

They did not know that in its common meaning of a non-state sector, civil society does not really exist in Vietnam and, in any case, the Vietnamese government would not have made it easy for them. They expected the Vietnamese government to allow them limitless access to the People's Forum, but the host kept them out.

The visitors were exasperated, but this reflects a poor understanding of the political and social milieu that has been taking shape slowly since the beginning of reforms in 1986, called Doi Moi.

While Vietnamese who dislike the communist regime and who live overseas may have a different perspective, a large majority of Vietnamese today who have lived through either the war or the difficult period of the late 1970s to the late 1980s would say that life today has never been better.

The granaries and markets are full, the bank accounts are building up, more people own houses and the houses are bigger, farmers are getting better income and poverty rates have gone down. During this year's summer vacation, the growth in outward-bound tourism was exponential and higher than domestic tourism.

Recently, a real-estate company from Singapore thanked its rich Vietnamese clients for being the biggest customers of its high-end housing projects. Vietnamese parents are quietly sending their children, some as young as 10 years old, to schools overseas at their own expense.

Politically, there is much more space for alternative opinion and debate than before. The government has been consulting society and its professionals on important directions, and international development agencies have also played an important role in helping to craft government policies.

But non-governmental organisations are a misnomer in Vietnam because almost all have strong cooperative ties with the authorities that differ from the open confrontation often seen in civil society- government relationships elsewhere.

Earlier this year, the government drafted a new ordinance making it easier for associations to be formed. This was the state's recognition that there is a role for associations in doing things that the state is not so good at doing.

Are civil liberties and freedoms really badly trampled on by the state in Vietnam? For those who have been to Vietnam time and again over the last decade, surely the answer is 'No'. Although Vietnam is not the epitome of democracy and freedom, international civil society should take stock of its political and social developments and ponder over what is achievable and unachievable in the next decade.

In this way, expectations of international civil society can be moderated and there can then be a forward momentum in its relations with the Vietnamese government.

In this regard, there is much to be said about the appropriateness of the tactics that international civil society adopts towards Vietnam. Confrontation is less welcomed than a supportive attitude. International civil society should not have been surprised that even journalists were barred from the Asia-Europe People's Forum. Watch where you are going and how you are going, or you'll get a bloodied nose.