HANOI — With the economy flagging and investor disenchantment growing, Vietnam has turned to a conservative Communist with a military background to lead the country into the 21st century.
On the surface, the ascension of Le Kha Phieu, 66, to Communist Party secretary-general--the most powerful post in Vietnam--appears to be a victory for old guard Communists who want to slow the pace of economic reform and keep the economy under heavy state control.
Phieu, who in 1966 said, "Capitalism will definitely be replaced as it is backward in satisfying the people's desire for happiness," succeeds party chief Do Muoi, 80.
Muoi led Vietnam into a decade of change that saw the emergence of a free-market economy but ended up backing away from reforms he once supported.
Not widely known even in Vietnam, Phieu, a general, was elected in a closed party meeting Monday. He made his reputation as a military political commissar, not a battlefield commander, and has most recently been in charge of party ideological training and internal security. His appointment once again reflects how out of step Vietnam is with the rest of Asia.
While the military has largely stepped back from politics in Thailand and China and political ideologues have widely fallen out of fashion, Vietnam has been unable to shed the notion that control--of the economy, the political apparatus and the information available to the public--is the state's ultimate responsibility.
Many economists have warned that Vietnam's insistence on clinging to inward-looking policies that have failed elsewhere could doom the country's hope of catching up with its more advanced neighbors.
Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who in 30 years transformed his city-state from a fishing village into one of the region's most prosperous, efficient countries, added his voice to the chorus in November when he came to Hanoi and stunned his hosts with a critical assessment of the local climate for foreign investors.
"I have spelled out for them [Vietnamese officials] the implications for our investors and for all the other investors, and that they are killing them," Lee told a news conference.
He said Vietnamese leaders must look at the world and decide "if they wanted to be contrarians." They have to realize, he said, that investors come to Vietnam to make a profit, not to reconstruct the country. But Lee said he was unsure his message got through.
