It might seem strange, given the system's surveillance and security networks, but the Communist Party is wary of high-profile law enforcement campaigns. Failure would be worse than embarrassing for a party which is supposed to represent the people's will. Such campaigns are only ever risked at times and in ways which demonstrate the Party's continuing hold on power.
That is from Bill Hayton's new book — Vietnam: Rising Dragon — which I found informative and insightful on virtually every page. Recommended.
Fine, but do you have any final verdict on “To the End of the Land”?
It’s not so strange that this law-of-rule is at odds with the people’s will. One day the cadres will accept that people only like and want rule-of-law. That day will not be too far off if the price mechanism continues to expand in Vietnam. Even so, there will be an intermediate rent-seeking stage between communism and capitalism when law enforcement will clash in a different way with the will of some business people.
I was in Vietnam for three weeks a couple of years ago, and I was amazed at the low profile of law enforcement. Certainly, they were watching (you have to surrender your passport every time you check in to a new hotel, and it is taken to the local captain so he knows who is around) but I almost never saw uniformed police out and about. Nowhere near the police visibility you see in American cities.
There were lots of people in uniform, but if you looked closely, they were mostly private security guards.
I have no idea what the average Vietnamese person’s experience with the police is, though.
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