From: vinsight@netcom.com (Chan T. Vninsight)
Subject: Nations On Sale
Originator: daemon@media.mit.edu
Reply-To: vinsight@netcom.com
Organization: N/A
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 07:20:00 GMT


NATIONS ON SALE

In an attempt to maintain powers, the communist governments of Vietnam
and Cambodia are putting their countries on sale at a bargain price.
Incumbent Cambodian officials are selling lands and state-owned
properties and pocketing the money before the 1993 general election that
is likely to doom their power and privileges. Their Vietnamese
counterparts are selling their country in order to retain a position of
power -- power that is seriously threatened by abject poverty, fading
ideological faith, and long-term oppression.

In both countries, foreigners are hovering over the lucrative deals
offered by the two governments. Phnom Penh is looking for quick profits
by selling lands, buildings and other state assets. (These assets
include prisons that once housed the regime's political opponents, army
barracks, and as ridiculous as it may sound, Prince Sihanouk's royal
palace). Hanoi is signing the country away via long-term contracts with
foreign investors, selling natural and human resources at an
unprecedented low price, while relinquishing all opportunities for the
Vietnamese to compete against foreign corporations. In this way, foreign
investors will virtually own Vietnam (and Cambodia to a lesser degree).

While it is recognized that foreign investment are vital to the
development of a poor country, the manner in which the contracts are
made determines the difference between selling the country away and
promoting national prosperity. If leaders in Hanoi would put the
people's interests above their own, the way they manage the nation's
affairs would be quite different. Their self-serving conduct can be
contrasted with leaders' of Eastern Europe nations, who are also
struggling to revive their economies, but have refused to take such a
sordid approach to their problems. Fortunately, the progress of this
"fire-sale" is hampered somewhat by political developments in both
countries.

Despite Cambodia's on-going peace process and Vietnam's increasing
friendliness toward the West, the two countries are still considered
great business risks due to political instability. Cambodia is rife with
unrest: the warring factions continues to violate the truce; demobilized
but still armed, unemployed soldiers roam the streets; angry
demonstrators turn their rage into violence; and citizens are confronted
with death threats if they do not vote for the the designated candidate
in 1993 election. In Vietnam, instability is less apparent, but exists
nevertheless. Anti-regime leaflets are common despite Hanoi's increasing
security measures, resentments fills the air, and open criticism of the
regimes stops just short of outright condemnation of communism (for
those who dare are imprisoned or disapper without a trace).

Social degradation, a side-effect that has accompanied these economic
policies, has hightened instability. The haphazard transformation of the
market has contributed to an increase in social ills. Deep-rooted problems
resulting from decades of poverty and oppression now have the
opportunity to blossom: prostitution, drug, smuggling, theft and
corruption have become increasingly common in both countries. With the
gap between the elite minority and the impoverished majority widening
without improvement in general living conditions, anarchy and chaos can
easily set in. Therefore, foreign investors must beware the lucrative
deals offered by the incumbent governments of Vietnam and Cambodia
certainly cannot outweigh the potential risks of popular resentment and
instability.

As for the people of Vietnam and Cambodia, the communist regimes have
denied independence and have demonstrated a total disregard for the
well-being of the respective nations. These regimes deserve nothing but
a place in history's trash can -- and the sooner the better -- so that
Cambodia and Vietnam can get on the road to recovery and progress.

-- 
Vietnam Insight (vinsight@netcom.com)
Chan Tran, editor