NEW YEAR, NEW CRACKDOWNS
TTTTT
As the final weeks of 2002 was
coming and 2003 was looming, the Communist government in Vietnam launched
several raids against many dissidents and protesters, ignoring voices of
protest from Western governments, international human rights, press freedom and
religious freedom groups.
Crackdowns
on many dissidents and searching others' homes were going on since the
beginning of 2002. They were formally convicted during the last months of the
year.
The
young lawyer Le Chi Quang was sentenced to four years in jail on November 8,
2002 for having advocated political reforms via the Internet. The other two
well-known dissidents followed: Dr. Pham Hong Son was arrested on March 29,
2002 and journalist Nguyen Vu Binh was arrested six months later on September
25, along with some others. They are in prison for having expressed opinions on
corruption, democracy and freedom.
On
December 28, a key member of the movement for democracy, retired North
Vietnamese Army Colonel Pham Que Duong and his wife were both arrested at Saigon's
train station. Mr. Duong and his wife came back to Ha Noi after visiting
several friends in Saigon, including Professor Tran Khue.
Tran
Khue, a literature teacher who wrote an open letter against the agreement
between Hanoi and Beijing redrawing the borderlines between China and Vietnam,
has been put under house arrest since March 10, 2002.
The
Communist leaders are continuing their crackdowns on other protesters. On
December 20, the so-called "People's Court" in Hanoi handed down a
12-year prison term on Nguyen Khac Toan, a democracy activist. He was arrested
on January 8, 2002.Toan had been a North Vietnam soldiers during the Vietnam
War
Toan was
convicted of spying and e-mailing material to overseas Vietnamese human rights
organizations. His rights to a fair trial were ignored though the Constitution
of the Communist regime clearly specifies such rights. The court session lasted
only a few hours and was held in secret, in violation of article 131 of the
constitution. Toan's family members were not allowed in the courtroom. He was
only permitted to see his lawyer twice for some minutes, a few days before the
trial, but was not allowed to talk to him in private.
Some
foreign correspondents refer to Quang, Toan and their fellows in the unofficial
movement for democracy as cyber-dissidents. They also allege that Hanoi is
following China Communist leaders' policies of strict control and broad
repression of Internet users. State-controlled Internet servers in Vietnam are
required to monitor email traffic and Internet visits and to report to the political security service
everything they suspect of being anti-Communist activity and information searching.
The
Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) regime permits cyber-space activities in Vietnam
because it can't ban its cadres and government employees from using such modern
means of communications. Internet became more and more popular and possession
of a computer is a sign of social position and dignity. Meanwhile,
subscriptions of Internet and email accounts draw a lot of cash to the national
and local budgets.
Besides,
VCP's government Public Security launched statewide raids on Protestants in the
Central Highlands and northern provinces along the border with China. Christian
Montagnards are intimidated, abused and many scores of their leaders were
detained on charges of whatever the authorities could have invented. Routinely,
the Montagnards in many regions are forbidden to attend religious services, or
to contribute to the local church.
On
December 25, 2002, the criminal court of Darlac province sentenced a number of
Montagnards who had joined the peaceful protests in the Central Highlands
province in 2001 over land right and religious freedom. Officials in Hanoi said
eight protesting leaders were sentenced to various prison terms but sources from
the area released by Montagnards living in the U.S.A. said the number must be
as high as 48.
Applying
the tactic of yielding first, retaliating later, which has been so common under
the Communist regime, the authorities only cracked down on the protesting
tribesmen more than a year after the Spring-2001 demonstration against Hanoi
regime. The first months of 2001 saw the protesters up to 20,000 Montagnards in
the three provinces Kontum, Pleiku and Darlac marching into the provincial
capitol cities, where angry protesters destroyed some of the local government
offices.
Similarly,
for several months since the early 2002, hundreds of peasants from Ha Dong,
about 8 miles from Hanoi held many protests in front of state buildings in
Hanoi downtown. Public Security Department only arrested the alleged leaders a
few months later and sentenced them about one year after the protests started.
The
recent crackdowns may be serving as a warning signal to the growing number of
dissident. In the next few months, there will be some more cases of dissidents
at similar courts that will also disregard procedures assuring fair trial as
stated in their constitution and criminal code.
Beside
crackdowns on political opponents, Hanoi launched a campaign to get rid of
unwanted publications, tapes and CDs, especially illegal software copies
produced and sold on the streets at dirt prices. The campaign also cracked down
on drugs smuggling, prostitution, gambling and other social evils.
The
campaign, like others in the past 50 years under Communist rule, comes and goes
as a gust of wind. It's strong and noisy at first, then losing its power before
grinding to a standstill. During each campaign, the violators withdraw from
their trades to take a rest as if they were on annual leave. When the wind is
calm, they would reappear to continue their businesses. They could exist and
prosper because local public security and ranking party officials, the
"God Father" of every social evil in Vietnam protects them.
The most
remarkable news in the week is the visit to Hanoi of Japan's finance minister,
Mr. Masajuro Shiokawa. He told the VCP leaders that Japanese investors have
been suffering a lack of transparency in addition to quite cumbersome
investment rules. Of course he was given lots of promises from Hanoi
authorities as usual, but no one could predict what will be like next month or
next year.
VCP
leaders might change the rules overnight and different ministries and different
local governments could interpret any clause in a law differently.
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