Võ Văn Kiệt (; 23 November 1922 – 11 June 2008"Ex-Vietnam premier Vo Van Kiet dies at 85: government"
AFP, June 11, 2008.) whose real name is Phan Văn Hòa, was a Vietnamese politician and economic reformer who served as the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

from 1991 to 1997. A well regarded

ese revolutionary and political leader, Kiệt was a veteran fighter in the long wars against the French colonialists and then the South Vietnamese and American forces during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. He held key political positions in the South, and during the Second Indochina War, Võ Văn Kiệt was the senior political officer commanding the Saigon district and headquartered in the Củ Chi tunnels. His wife and children were killed when a US plane rocketed a passenger ferry carrying 200 passengers along the Saigon River. In the difficult post-war years, he was one of the most prominent reformist leaders that led the Đổi mới ( lit: ''Innovation'') policy in Vietnam since 1986. His premiership (1991–1997) saw the country's return to the world arena after decades of war and isolation. He is considered as the "general engineer" of many bold projects of the Doi Moi period. Kiệt, who played a driving role in the economic reform process in Vietnam that began in the mid-1980s, is exactly what United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon once assessed, "Võ Văn Kiệt paved the way for the transformation of Vietnam from poverty to a decade of impressive economic growth." The five years of the 6th Party Congress (December 1986) to the 7th Congress (June 1991) were the time of the debate. Conflict and struggle at different levels, and areas between the two trends of returning to the old subsidized bureaucratic mechanism or decisively breaking up with it. Many officials either do it for personal gain or because they do not want it. Having enough determination and capacity, they did not dare and did not want to innovate. Faced with that situation, Võ Văn Kiệt and many senior leaders persevered, showing strong determination to innovate and clearly pointing out that innovation must follow closely, into practical conditions to meet the interests of the people and the country. As Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers (June 1988 - August 1991), Chairman of the Council of Ministers (August 1991 - October 1992), Prime Minister (October 1992 - December 1997), Kiệt proposed and directed the development and implementation of many groundbreaking policies such as: eliminating ordinance targets, granting business autonomy to state-owned enterprises; commercialize means of production, allowing large enterprises, both central and local, to directly import and export, ending the situation of two prices; abolish the mandatory purchasing regime imposed on farmers, abolish the river ban on markets, implement the free circulation of goods throughout the country, gradually transition the economy from a subsidized to a market economy.

Background

Võ Văn Kiệt was born Phan Văn Hòa in 1922 into a peasant family in Trung Hiệp village, Vũng Liêm, Vĩnh Long province in the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...

in southern Vietnam, then a part of

Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; ; ; ; ) is a historical exonym and endonym, exonym for part of Vietnam, depending on the contexts, usually for Southern Vietnam. Sometimes it referred to the whole of Vietnam, but it was commonly used to refer t ...

in what was called French Indochina. His birth name was Phan Văn Hòa and he changed it to Võ Văn Kiệt when he was admitted to the Indochinese Communist Party in 1939. He also had a pseudonym, Sáu Dân. He joined the Anti-imperialist Youth Movement and took part in the Nam Kỳ (

) insurrection in Vũng Liêm district.

Political career

Võ Văn Kiệt was a member of the Viet Minh independence movement, he fought against the French colonial powers in the First Indochina War (1946–54) in Southern Vietnam. According to the Geneva Accords, communist cadres were forced to gather in

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

, but he was among those who remained in the South, moving between secret bases in the southeastern region. His first wife, Trần Kim Anh, and his two children were killed in a rocket attack by US forces in 1966. In 1960, he was elected alternate member of the Communist Party Central Committee and a member of COSVN in 1961, in command of communist forces in

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

and surrounding areas. After North Vietnamese forces took control of Saigon on April 30, 1975, he led the takeover of the city and in 1976 was appointed as Chairman of the People's Committee (alias governor) as well as deputy party secretary of the city, which had been renamed to

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

in memory of the deceased leader. In the early postwar years, South Vietnam's economy deteriorated rapidly due to the withdrawal of US investment and the harsh Stalinist policies enforced by central government. Saigon, formerly a dynamic economic center, faced for the first time a widespread lack of food and other commodities. As the head of the city government, Võ Văn Kiệt realized that the Soviet economic model was flawed and secretly promoted trade and manufacturing behind the state's back. Gradually he became one of the staunchest supporters of the reformist faction in the party, many of whom were local party heads and administrators in southern provinces. In 1982, he was promoted to Deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers (Vice Premier) and became Chairman of the State Planning Commission. In 1987, he was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam and assumed the role of Acting Prime Minister from March to June 1988 after the sudden death of Phạm Hùng. In the tradition of the party's organisation, he should have been made Premier. However, allegedly due to a personal quarrel between Võ Văn Kiệt and Nguyễn Văn Linh - the Secretary General and his longtime superior - as well as opposition from conservative members of the Politburo, Đỗ Mười was chosen instead. In the plenary session of the National Assembly in 1988, however, many delegates nominated him as a second candidate. Even though he got only 35% of votes, this was unprecedented, as elections in the National Assembly had previously had only one candidate and they were essentially just a rubber-stamp of decisions made by the Party Politburo. After 1975, around 4 million people suffered from food shortages in

. People often had to eat rice stuffed with potatoes and cassava. The reason was that the state reformed private enterprise in the South and monopolized the wholesale stage. This caused the entire network of rice traders and granary owners in the West to be eliminated, replaced by state-owned trading companies. However, the state's buying price at that time was "as low as it was", farmers in the West had rice but refused to sell it. Even if the government has money, it is not allowed to buy rice at the agreed price because it can easily be accused of going against the subsidy policy. As Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Võ Văn Kiệt was then faced with two options: strictly comply with the state's purchasing price or "break the barrier" to find a way to buy rice to save the country. During the 1978-1979 period, Ho Chi Minh City also faced a shortage of imported sources, causing the input of the entire production to decline, leading to a crisis in goods and labor. Kiệt discussed with city leaders to find ways to "tear down" the import of some necessary raw materials for production.

Prime minister

Võ Văn Kiệt took the role of First Vice Premier and continued to push his reform agenda. In 1991, he was elected as Prime Minister, an office he held until 1997. His tenure marked the advance of the administrative branch at the expense of the influence of the Party's institutions, when the power was shared by three top leaders: himself as Prime Minister, General Secretary Đỗ Mười, and President Lê Đức Anh. He initiated a large program of economic reform, reorganised the government and urged the broadening of diplomatic ties. In the early 1990s Vietnam gradually recovered from the economic crisis of the previous decade. In 1995 the country joined the ASEAN community and normalized relations with the US, ending 20 years of formal mutual enmity and American embargo after the fall of Saigon. In 1986, the reform policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam blew new winds. However, the southern region and Ho Chi Minh City - places with early access to industry - still cannot create a strong breakthrough due to serious electricity shortages due to very limited local sources, and rotating power cuts are daily matter. The decision to build a 500kV North - South super high voltage line to transmit electricity from North to South, helping the South alleviate its electricity thirst, was officially raised by Võ Văn Kiệt with leaders of the Ministry of Energy during a meal. In 1991, the answer "Can do" by Minister of Energy Vũ Ngọc Hải a week later was also the beginning of a mountain of work that needed to be implemented. He ordered strict punishment, no matter who that person was or what position he was in. Later, Minister of Energy Vũ Ngọc Hải, who created the North-South 500kV power transmission line project, was convicted of irresponsibility in management and sentenced to three years in prison, as were a number of related officials who were dismissed from their posts. Kiệt announced that if the 500KV line fails, he will automatically resign. The project was approved by the Politburo in January 1992. On 25 February 1992, the Government approved the economic-technical thesis with a completion time decision of 2 years and due to the emergency period, allowing implementation by survey, design, import of materials and equipment and construction to be carried out in parallel. After more than 2 years of building the 500kV North - South Line, circuit 1, at exactly 7:00 p.m., 7 minutes and 59 seconds on 27 May 1994, Võ Văn Kiệt ordered the Southern power system to be merged with 4 units of the Hydroelectric Plant Hòa Bình in Đà Nẵng. After this event, many people called him "Electricity Prime Minister", a commander-in-chief of the industry, a leader who laid the foundation and made great contributions to a unified electricity grid nationwide, meeting the needs of the entire country. development and economic integration as of today. Kiệt's old decision solved the problem of electricity shortage in the South and promoted economic development. Ho Chi Minh City is the economic development engine of the country. The conflict between reformist and conservative factions increased and culminated in a series of power struggles in the mid-1990s. Representing the reformists, Võ Văn Kiệt advocated for further privatisation of the state dominated economy, as well as democratization - an approach criticised by his political rivals as dangerous to "socialist orientation". In 1996, after the party could not create a consensus on personnel arrangement, all of the three top leaders remained in their positions. However, factionalism was only intensified and eventually led Võ Văn Kiệt and his opponents Mười and Anh to step down at the same time in 1997. They continued to influence the country affairs as advisors to the Standing Committee of the party until 2001.

Final years

After retiring from politics, Võ Văn Kiệt lived in

. He remained a member of the Advisory Council to the Party's Central Committee until 2001. Since then, he had spoken out on many issues, and was seen as a defender of people's rights. Võ Văn Kiệt was the highest-ranking former government official to have openly spoken out about reconciliation with Vietnamese exiles and democracy activists. He had spoken out against the proposed expansion of

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

and the demolition of the historic National Assembly building in Ba Đình Square to make place for a new one.

Death and state funeral

Võ Văn Kiệt was admitted to Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital on June 3, 2008 and died at the age of 85 on June 11, 2008. State media did not announce his death until the night of June 12, after most foreign news agencies had already reported it and many foreign dignitaries had already offered condolences, including

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Ban Ki-moon. The

government of Vietnam The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (; less formally the Vietnamese Government or the Government of Vietnam, ) is the Cabinet (government), cabinet and the central Executive (government), executive arm of the Politics of Vietn ...

announced a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

on June 14 and 15 to be held in the Reunification Hall (

, and his birth province Vĩnh Long. Memorial and burial services at state level for Võ Văn Kiệt were organized in Vietnam's southern

Hồ Chí Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

on Sunday morning June 15, 2008 with the participation of many residents and officials, including the country's top party and state leaders. Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Hồ Chí Minh City for the state funeral of Võ Văn Kiệt. "The death of former prime minister Võ Văn Kiệt is a great loss to the party, state, people and his family... He had a spirit of daring to think and daring to do. The comrade (Võ Văn Kiệt) and party and state leaders led all people to conduct the renovation cause, bringing our country out of the socioeconomic crisis," Nông Đức Mạnh, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and head of the funeral board, said at the memorial service televised live by the Central Vietnam Television. Top Communist Party officials, some wearing black suits and black ties, solemnly stood to attention in the front row of mourners before Võ Văn Kiệt's coffin during the service. Relatives stood in black mourning clothes and white headbands. The coffin was draped in Vietnam's red flag with a gold star and enclosed in a glass case for transportation on a gun carriage through city streets to the national cemetery for burial. Tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets to honor Võ Văn Kiệt as his coffin was carried in a procession of military vehicles through Hồ Chí Minh City to be cremated. The country's political elite paid their respects in Reunification Hall, where Communist Party chief Nông Đức Mạnh headed long lines of mourners who filed past Võ Văn Kiệt's coffin from early Saturday. As his body lay in state, the palace hall was filled with incense smoke and funeral music played by an army band. Saturday and Sunday were declared days of mourning with flags flying at half-mast at official buildings. In a statement, current Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng paid tribute to Võ Văn Kiệt as "a wholehearted, loyal, irrepressible and heroic revolutionary. All his life, all his heart and all his force was for the country and the people." Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Phạm Gia Khiêm told AFP that Võ Văn Kiệt "was very dynamic in setting policy in the renovation period, and I think his contribution will stay with the

Vietnamese people The Vietnamese people (, ) or the Kinh people (), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day northern Vietnam and Dongxing, Guangxi, southern China who speak Vietnamese language, Viet ...

forever."

Eulogy

The eulogy for Võ Văn Kiệt was given by communist party leader Nông Đức Mạnh at the Reunification Palace in Hồ Chí Minh City, where his body had been lying in state. He described Võ Văn Kiệt as "an excellent leader of our party, state and people, a faithful revolutionary fighter who has devoted his whole life for national independence, socialism and people's happiness". Võ Văn Kiệt's flag-draped coffin, carried in a glass case and accompanied by a military procession, was then taken through the streets, where thousands of mourners waited to pay tribute. Vietnam held two days of national mourning. Among the grey ranks of Vietnam's communist leadership, Võ Văn Kiệt was one of few figures to have stood out. Credited as a leading figure in the economic reforms known as Đổi Mới, which have transformed Vietnam's economy, he was a rarity among senior officials in speaking out publicly against the failings of the economic system. One of his comrades in arms, Trần Quốc Hương, former head of intelligence for the Việt Cộng network in South Vietnam, wrote in the condolence book: "I was deeply moved by your death. You were my comrade, my friend, and my brother." After the communist victory in 1975 he became party secretary of

, and quietly defied hard-line official policy by trying to work with officials and businesses associated with the defeated government. As prime minister, Võ Văn Kiệt presided over a period of dramatic economic growth and foreign investment. In an interview with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in 2007 he questioned whether Communist Party members were true patriots, saying: "The motherland of Vietnam doesn't belong to one person, one party or one group only." In his final weeks, Võ Văn Kiệt also spoke out against the expansion of the capital

and expressed concern whether Vietnam could protect itself against rising sea levels caused by

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

Legacy

Võ Văn Kiệt led Vietnam's economic reform of the 1990s and its reopening to the outside world after decades of isolation. His death raises questions about which way the communist party in Vietnam would move on. There were signs in late 2010s that Võ Văn Kiệt's reformist allies had been losing their influence. Out of office, since 1997, Võ Văn Kiệt remained active in politics, publishing commentaries pushing for more liberalisation even as Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in 2007 and averaged annual GDP growth of 7.5 percent since 2000.

Quotes

References

Notes

Sources

External links