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Question: The Law on Militia is before the National Assembly and will pass in the next few days. The
director of the National Assembly’s Defence and Security Committee has requested an additional 100
million VND for the defense budget. Do you think it will pass and does it have any significance?
ANSWER: The Law on Militia and Self‐Defence Forces is slated to be passed. The significance to me
is that in the past self‐defence forces were an integral part of state‐owned enterprises. When these
were privatised/equitised a problem arose: how can you form self‐defence forces in a private
enterprise? Who would fund them? In other words, the development of a market economy overtook
the requirements on the statute books. The 2004 Ordinance on Militia and Self‐Defence Forces
specifies that self‐defence forces will be organized in non‐state enterprises. I believe the present draft
contains a provision for the organization of self‐defence forces in private enterprises employing more
than fifty workers. The 1996 and 2004 Ordinances on Militia and Self‐Defence Forces included
provision for self‐defence forces located in maritime areas.
Vietnam's defence budget is a secret and any information on it is news. Generally the trend has been
for Vietnam’s defence spending to rise in absolute terms (in US$); while, at the same time, declining
as a proportion of GDP (see table below).
2
Vietnam Defence Budget as percent of GDP, 2001‐07
(in billion U.S. dollars)
Year VPA Size Defence Budget GDP DB as % of GDP
(DB)
Source: International Institute of Strategic Studies, The Military Balance (2000‐01 to 2007‐08).
The chart below compares estimates by Australia's Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) and the
International Institute of Strategic Studies of recent defence funding.
Chart 1 Vietnam’s Defence Funding, 2001‐2007
(in billion U.S. dollars)
4
3.5
2.5
2 DIO
1.5 IISS
0.5
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Source: Defence Intelligence Organisation, Defence Economic Trends in the Asia‐Pacific, (2008), and
International Institute of Strategic Studies, Military Balance (2001‐02 to 2007‐08).
Increasing the defence budget by 100 million dong would not add appreciably to defence’s coffers. In
2007, Vietnam’s defence budget was around 60 trillion dong.
Thayer Consultancy Background Briefing:
ABN # 65 648 097 123
Draft Law on Militia and Self-
Defence Forces
Carlyle A. Thayer
April 4, 2009
The draft Law will be proposed to the NA for discussion at the next NA session to be held in
early May.
ANSWER: In recent years Vietnam has moved steadily to promulgate a raft of legislation
pertaining to the defence establishment and the people’s armed forces (as the military, militia,
reserves) are collectively known. Last year I spoke with a Senior Colonel from Vietnam. He
alerted me to an interesting conundrum faced by Vietnamese defence officials. Prior to the
market economy, militia and self-defence forces were organised in all enterprises, factories
etc. But with privatisation a gap appeared and foreign owned enterprises did not support
these forces. The legislation you are referring to is an attempt to take a messy situation left
over from history and bring it into line with current realities. As you can see there are a
number of knotty policy issues to be resolved. Several years earlier Vietnam decreed that all
joint ventures and foreign owned enterprises should have a party cell. In reality this has
proven difficult in a market economy. These cells provide the backbone for the militia and self-
defence forces. The militia and self-defence forces number in the millions and are one
component of Vietnam’s “all people’s national defence” structure.
There is nothing startling about the current legislation and nor do I see any hidden agenda. As
noted above, this represents the latest step in Vietnam’s attempt to develop appropriate
legislation for its defence and security establishment.