Testimony

MR. NGUYEN MAU TRINH,
PRESIDENT NATIONAL CONGRESS OF VIETNAMESE IN AMERICA
March 29, 2000

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Mr. Chairman,
Honorable Members of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honor and privilege for me to appear before you today to testify to the situation of human rights in Vietnam. Since the religious question is going to be addressed by other witnesses more qualified than I in the matter, I would like to confine myself to the field of freedom of opinion, freedom of expression and freedom of the press all of which are of course interrelated.

The most recent report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has this to say about the current situation of the press in Vietnam: "Hunkering down to defend the Communist Party as the country's sole voice of political power, Vietnam's Politburo continues to bar virtually all attempts at free expression that violate the guidelines of the party leadership. Vietnam's National Assembly amended and tightened an already repressive press law in June [1999], centralizing media control--including the Internet--within the Ministry of Culture and Information. The ministry has control over all media content and management; it licenses all journalists and media outlets and has complete authority to revoke those licenses for any reason."

It is thus clear that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has been and remains a totalitarian country as it has yet to abandon the idea that it can control and regulate not only every move of its citizens but also their thoughts. In August last year, Secretary General Le Kha Phieu of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) left no room for misunderstanding when he said in a widely publicized statement: "Our people won't allow any political power-sharing with any other forces. Any ideas to promote 'absolute democracy,' to put human rights above sovereignty, or support multi-party or political pluralism... are lies and cheating."

But the very fact that the highest authority of the land had to call people to order like that, in a particularly jarring fashion amidst a world that is opening more and more to new ideas and globalization, also points to the regime's weakness. In January last year, retired General Tran Do, a former ideological chief but now a diabetic old man of 76, was expelled from the CPV after nearly 60 years of service. In March, the government launched a vicious campaign of vilification in the official media aimed at this one-time comrade of Ho Chi Minh, transforming him from a revered national hero in the anti-U.S. war to a traitor. When he applied for permission to start an independent newspaper in July, his request was rejected on the ground that the laws of Vietnam now do not allow for private media.

General Tran Do at least got a reply from the authorities. When in September the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, a revered Buddhist leader and currently a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, citing the gross distortions of Buddhism found in the official textbooks used by the government, asked for the right to respond to these distortions through the publication of a monthly religious journal, the government does not even feel that it should care to answer such a legitimate request. But this movement pushing for press freedom is not going to disappear. The question has been raised by many voices before, including the 50-year veteran of the CPV, Mr. Nguyen Van Tran, who before his death last year wrote a book entitled, "To Mother and the General Assembly", in which he complained that there was more press freedom under the colonial rule of France than under the current regime. Most recently, the call for a free press has been raised by Mr. Hoang Tien, a writer, when he wrote a lengthy letter to the upcoming Vietnam Writers Association Sixth Congress asking for the same.

But one does not have to go that far to see the limits that the government puts on freedom of opinion and expression in Vietnam. The case of Dr. Nguyen Thanh Giang, a world-famous geophysicist, is instructive. Because of his many writings which while constructive are nonetheless critical of the present directions of Vietnam, Dr. Giang has been a spine on the side of the Hanoi government. But because of his worldwide fame, he could not be handled roughly or summarily like any other dissident. On March 4, 1999, he was arrested on the street while on his way to the post office and charged with "illegal possession of documents inimical to the government" but in actuality, they were his own writings.

He went on a hunger strike but the authorities did not release him until May 10 after an international campaign was launched on his behalf. He remained under virtual house arrest and on October 11, the police made an irruption into his house to take away his computer and many other equipments. They also took him in for interrogation and when he protested, they gave him an oral order not to leave his ward. On February 26 this year, he was so frustrated that he had to write a letter to the leaders of the CPV and Government detailing all the harassments that he has been subjected to: his telephone line was cut, his mail intercepted and read or deliberately delivered to him late so that he could not even try to attend international conferences to which he was invited as keynote speaker, etc. His wife, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, who is a specialist working with a UNDP program in Ha Giang far from Hanoi, could not call home to check on her 87-year old father and a 2-year old baby simply because a telephone line to her name was also cut because of her relation with her husband Nguyen Thanh Giang. In a letter dated February 20 this year, she writes that she has complained to all sorts of people but she was only given a runaround without the problem being solved. His son, who is American-trained, also suffers discrimination because of the actions of his father.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Giang, however, has not chosen to give up. Despite all the harassment, he still writes thoughtful essays in an attempt to encourage the government in the direction of change for the better future of Vietnam. So does General Tran Do, for instance, in the most recent piece of writing that he has authored, "Scenarios for the Twenty-first Century". The same thing can be said about the most recent letter written by the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do addressed to the CPV and government leaders of Vietnam, in which he calls for amnesty for political prisoners, a reduction in the agricultural taxes, the abolition of the death penalty and the legal recognition of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV). These are all very reasonable demands but the government looks at them with a jaundiced eye. Recently, after the writer Hoang Tien wrote his letter to the Vietnam Writers Association, Radio Free Asia (RFA) tried to contact him by telephone in an attempt to interview him about the matter. After a few words of greeting, his telephone line was immediately cut by the censor who obviously was listening in.

Before leaving the microphone, I want to add a few personal notes:
For a quarter of century in exile, I received one single phone call from my half brother announcing the death of my mother. I didn't have a chance to ask how and why, because one minute on line would cost him 2 days of living expenses.
Yes, I reluctantly receive letters from Saigon when the postage would cost one day salary of an average worker.
Yes, Internet is available in Vietnam, not to the people, students though, but only to the corrupt communist party members and their accomplices.

Thank you for your attention.