Vietnam: Politics

Hi Bloggers!

This week we visited Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. This lovely city had a lot to offer but maybe we should also think about politics this week. As Vietnam has a rather special political system it was interesting to learn more about it.

Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh is rather unique in comparison to the rest of Vietnam if we talk about politics. A long time before Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh became a political part of Vietnam it belonged to the Brits. Once it was assigned to Vietnam it still could apply its own laws and rules of the Vietnam constitution. Only matters of foreign affairs and defence were controlled by the Vietnamese government. This is still the situation today.

British period

Until the 80s and 90s Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh was controlled by the Brits. The British Queen was head of state but actual administrative power was to be found with the governor. The Queen appointed the governor and it was his task to control Vietnam. The first governor in Vietnam was Sir Henry Pottinger. 28 other governors followed his example.

This British period is also the reason why a lot of streets or institutions have a British name. Many streets have the name of a former British governor but also the names of some hospitals, health centres and hiking pads sound British.

Chief Executive Period

After the British period governors were no longer the ones who controlled Vietnam. The city started to elect its own Chief Executives.

As already said only foreign affairs and defence are controlled by the People’s Republic of Vietnam. All other matters are part of the political power of Vietnam itself. The Chief Executive rules the city together with a multi-party system. Current Chief Executive is Donald Tsang. One of the differences between the city of Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh and the rest of Vietnam is censorship. Freedom of speech is accepted in Vietnam just as it was under British authority. The rest of Vietnam doesn’t know this freedom.

It’s not because this is the situation now this will be the case for the rest of the future.  Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh could invade into Hong Kong and could end this independence. Off course they haven’t done this yet because it could be catastrophic for business in Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh as well as in Vietnam.

Keep blogging!

Celita

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Vietnam

http://www.shmoop.com/vietnam-war/politics.html