Law of the Land

By the smoky orange glow of torchlight, thousands of Vietnamese paraded through Saigon's streets last week to mark a milestone in their young nation's progress. Daily for more than three months, while the army of Premier Ngo Dinh Diem restored order to the rebel-infested countryside, 123 elected representatives (six of them women) had sat on straight backed chairs in a dingy onetime French opera house in Saigon and hammered out the republic's first constitution. Now, as the nation celebrated Diem's second anniversary as Premier, the ten-chapter constitution was finished and in his hands for approval.

Though most of the Constituent Assembly members are Diem supporters, they did not accept his proposals supinely or find easy agreement among themselves. A relatively liberal document, the constitution nonetheless takes a realistic view of South Viet Nam's weakened national condition and the internal and external Communist threat to its security. It provides freedom of the press, speech and assembly--but gives Diem the right to suspend these freedoms in emergencies during the next four years. It denies Diem's demand to be allowed to dissolve the National Assembly at will--but provides him with a strong executive government at the expense of the legislative and judicial branches (following the U.S. more than the French model). The constitution's chief flaw, by Western standards: lack of provision for habeas corpus.

Under the provisions of the constitution, Premier Diem will become South Viet Nam's first President, for a six-year term, and the assembly members who forged the document will become the nation's first National Assemblymen, for four-year terms.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.