Lessons from Vietnam

Imagine this; George W Bush stands at the microphone in front of the Republican National Conference and delivers the toughest speech of his life.
He blasts the ‘top to bottom’ corruption in the party. He goes on to detail one after scandal, some public, others are fresh revelations. He lists cases of official’s corruption including "kickbacks among parties involved in investment or construction projects, land clearance, procurement of materials, bidding, false tax claims, capital disbursement and corruption during investigations, prosecutions and trials.
Okay, it is not likely to happen any time soon, at least not in the US. But in communist Vietnam this is exactly what has happened at the party's national congress, currently underway in Hanoi.
It is a bold move, not only to salvage the party from ruin, but to keep Vietnam’s drive into world markets, their international trade rating moving up the scale.
It is a brave move, because doubtless heads will roll as party members go about the job of selecting the leadership to keep their development program on track.
Of course it would be naïve to believe this was a spontaneous expression of outrage, a knee jerk reaction to increasing revelations of corruption. It has all the hallmarks of a sophisticated and well planned agenda.
It would not seem too cynical to suggest that among the heads set to roll will be some carefully planned ‘sacrificial lambs’. It would be a pointless exercise if only functionaries were to take the fall, and the leadership left intact.
While there is an effort to show the congress is not a totally scripted affair, each participant will understand their limits. But then the renegade would be no more welcome at a Republican conference.
The issues I will be looking for, in the wash up from this congress, will be the effects of such a bold and seemingly transparent to the problems of corruption. While we are well used to the opposite, denial and mitigation, this openness is not so familiar.
The old ‘domino theory’ which was used to support the war in Vietnam is well discredited now. It is tempting to muse on the potential of a new domino theory; one which leads to greater transparency by governments and a willingness to openly attack the evils of public corruption.