Vietnam is catching up

At last, Vietnam is moving towards the early stages of takeoff. It should have happened long ago, of course, but the country has been too immersed in yesterday's battles to be able to mobilize all its assets for tomorrow. Unfortunately, it looks as if the beginning of its political regeneration, with younger men committed to reforms in key positions, might coincide with a downturn throughout the Asia-Pacific region. But this can only be a temporary phase; the changes that are being discussed at this week's Communist Party central committee plenum should be firmly in place by the time the region emerges from the doldrums. But it is not only a question of leadership. Vietnam needs a systemic overhaul badly. Beyond that lies the more crucial need for a shift in mind-set. It can be no accident that while private business is as thrusting as can be expected, the country's state sector is among the most inefficient in the world.

Whatever the leadership mix, the needs are clear enough: relaxation of the bureaucratic stranglehold, simplification of complex legal procedures, a more sustained effort to attract investment and continued firm action against corrupt officials and drug traffickers. In some ways, Vietnam seems now to have the worst of two worlds: the restrictive blinkers of past autarky as well as some of the consumerist evils of the capitalist system. If the future lies in elevating pragmatism above politics, some allowance must also be made for the pains of transition. The process might get an impulse when United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright goes to Hanoi later this month. Quite apart from the possibility of long-overdue compensation for the debilitating effects of chemical warfare -- the poisonous Agent Orange alone claimed around two million victims -- the visit will mark another milestone in the healing process. Much has been said and written about the agony of the American experience in the Vietnam War, but it pales against Vietnam's own suffering. It is encouraging that even if recovery has been delayed, it now seems set to make a beginning in the new National Assembly which must be convened by Sept. 20.

-- The Straits Times, Singapore