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On June 16,2013 Vietnamese police defrocked/tortured Khmer-Krom monk Ven. Ly Chanda of Prey Chop Temple in Lai Hoa, Vinh Chau, Soc Trang province. June 20,2013 Venerable Thach Thuol and Abbot Temple Lieu Ny of Ta Set temple (Soc Trang-Khleang province) defrocked and imprisoned in Prey Nokor (Saigon) city by the Viet authorities. In Phnor Dach (Cau Ngang) district, Preah Trapang/Tra Vinh) Khmer Krom prohibited from watching Cambodian TV signals.

POLITICAL INSIGHT: Lines of division in Communist Vietnam

A 2011 NEWS HOWEVER PROVIDES GREATER INSIGHT INTO THE FUTURE DIRECTION OF THE COMMUNIST VIETNAM REGIME

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has chosen to stay the course by selecting a Marxist ideologue as its new general secretary. Nguyen Phu Trong, a 67-year old former editor-in-chief of the Communist Review and current chairman of the communist-controlled National Assembly, was a compromise choice of the just-concluded 11th National Congress.

According to local observers, the two most powerful figures entering the conclave were Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and CPV standing secretary Truong Tan Sang. Dung has controlled the levers of government for the past five years and his policy of favoring large state-owned enterprises, which were placed under the remit of the prime minister’s office, gave him unprecedented control over the economy.

But he was also heavily criticized for backing a massive bauxite mining scheme in the Central Highlands region and mishandling Vinashin, the bankrupt state-owned shipping company with debts that reached 5% of gross domestic product (GDP). Sang has been in charge of the CPV on a day-to-day basis in a role akin to chief operating officer. He coordinated the party’s personnel, ideological and other key functions. Some Vietnam watchers believe Sang quietly nurtured the public criticisms against Dung.

Both men are in their early 60s and have been rivals since they were elevated to the CPV’s politburo in 1996. According to a classified US diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks: “Dung and Sang have amassed unparalleled influence in Vietnam’s Party-state apparatus; they are arguably the two most powerful political figures in the country today. The problem is that, though rivals, Dung and Sang are also too alike for comfort – both are southerners.”

Their competition generated intense jockeying in the days leading up to the congress. Dung’s allies in state media tried to burnish his image by publishing stories referring to him as “the greatest leader in Asia” according to “the German media”. Vietnamese bloggers looked into these claims and found that the single source of all the stories was one little known German website, www.firmenpresse.de, whose owner-operator was apparently seeking business contracts in Vietnam and advertises itself as a “full-service PR portal”.

To be sure, new CPV general secretary Trong does have a support base. Prior to chairing the National Assembly, he was party boss of Hanoi and an enforcer of Marxist thought. According to the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese daily with diplomatic contacts, Trong also has close ties to China. An early indicator of this pivotal relationship will be how soon Trong travels to Beijing and how he handles the sensitive topic of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

At 67 years old, Trong received a waiver to serve past the mandatory retirement age and thus he will most likely not hold the post for more than one five-year term. This could potentially set up another transition battle in a short while.

Who’s in, who’s out

One official who lost his post is foreign minister Pham Gia Khiem. He got ejected from both the new 175-member central committee and 14-member politburo. The latter body, which is the supreme decision-making organ of the CPV, currently has no representation from the Foreign Ministry.

This omission signifies the lack of clout of Vietnam’s diplomats in domestic power politics following a year in which Vietnam chaired the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and hosted major global and regional summits. As of now, just three central committee members hail from the Foreign Ministry.

The security forces, on the other hand, increased their representation, demonstrating that security is still a top policy concern. Police and military generals snagged nine and 19 seats respectively on the Central Committee. Police representation on the politburo increased from one to two members, while the armed forces retained the politburo seat held by defense minister Phung Quang Thanh.

In a sign that the CPV is acquiring vestiges of a hereditary political system, the sons of current Prime Minister Dung and outgoing party general secretary Nong Duc Manh were appointed to the central committee. They join the ranks of other communist progeny holding senior posts.

In sum, the personnel choices indicate a continuation of the current policies and many of their inherent contradictions. For the economy, this means that private enterprise will continue to coexist uneasily with inefficient state-owned firms in an overall climate of policy uncertainty.

Investors hoping for a more transparent, level-playing field will be disappointed by the ascension of general secretary Trong, who advocated at the congress for “public ownership of the means of production”. In his acceptance speech, Trong declared his continuing commitment to “advance Vietnam toward socialism.”

In terms of external relations, the new communist leadership will still need to balance against China. This means seeking closer military relations with the United States, ASEAN and other regional powers for the sake of Vietnam’s national security.

At the same time, party stakeholders will be driven by parochial interests – such as maintaining internal security, proving ideological consistency, and undertaking socialist-style development schemes – that will motivate a closer tilt toward communist-run Beijing for the Hanoi regime’s longevity and legitimacy.

Later this year, the National Assembly will convene to rubberstamp the CPV’s choices for president and prime minister, widely expected to be Truong Tan Sang and Nguyen Tan Dung. Party general secretary Trong will then lead a troika in which each of his nominally junior colleagues both believe that they instead should be CPV chief and thus the jostling for position likely did not end with the conclusion of the party congress.

Source: 2011 Asia Times Online
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Inquiry links Cambodian leader's nephew to drug trafficking, money laundering

AUSTRALIAN police suspect the nephew of Cambodia's Prime Minister is involved in a heroin trafficking and money laundering syndicate targeting Australia.

But a plan to arrest and question Hun To in Melbourne was thwarted because his application for a visa was denied by the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh, with one official citing the need to avoid a diplomatic incident. The targeting of Mr Hun To by an Australian Crime Commission inquiry that ran between 2002 and 2004 is one of several incidents that suggest strong and continuing links between Australian crime figures and Cambodia.

The Herald can also reveal that Sydney crime figures have been investing millions of dollars in suspected drug funds in big businesses in Cambodia, including those tied to influential government and business identities.

The revelations came after the Herald on Saturday reported that Australian officials had uncovered a global crime syndicate importing more than $1 billion worth of drugs into Australia annually and with connections to government and policing officials in Asia.

The inquiry that targeted Mr Hun To was called Operation Illipango and investigated the shipment of heroin to Australia from Cambodia in loads of timber.

As the nephew of the Prime Minister, Hun Sen, Mr Hun To is a powerful and feared figure in Cambodia and was once considered a close business associate of the country's richest man, Kith Meng, who owns the Royal Group.
Operation Illipango investigated suspected drug funds taken to Crown Casino in Melbourne where - under the suspected oversight of Mr Hun To - they were then moved to Asia.

Mr Kith Meng had numerous dealings with Mr Hun To during Mr Hun To's suspected organised crime activity, although the Herald is not suggesting Mr Kith Meng is involved in organised crime. The Royal Group has formed joint ventures with ANZ and Toll Holdings on projects in Cambodia.

The plans to arrest Mr Hun To were derailed after his visa was cancelled.

The only person charged with drug trafficking in connection to the commission's inquiry was a Cambodian, Phenny Thai, a lowly associate of Mr Hun To. Phenny Thai was described in the Victorian Supreme Court in 2005 as having "strong connections with powerful people in Cambodia which facilitated his business enterprises".
Among other Australians with suspected organised crime links to Cambodia are a Vietnamese-Chinese family in Sydney who own a well-known Asian restaurant. Police inquiries have determined that in the past decade, this family have helped send more than $10 million to Cambodia, including money suspected to be derived from drug trafficking.

Some of that was used to fund a casino on the Vietnamese border. In 2006, an associate of this family told an Asian news service that the casino business maintained ''a good relationship with the Cambodian government".
The revelations are part of research for The Sting, a new book on organised crime in Australia, published by Melbourne University Press.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/inquiry-links-cambodian-leaders-nephew-to-drug-trafficking-money-laundering-20120325-1vsn8.html#ixzz1qZNtqEBb
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China influence over Cambodia to be tested at SE Asia summit

(Reuters) - China's presence in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh is obvious. The city skyline is dotted by Chinese-funded projects. But the full extent of Beijing's influence here will be tested when President Hu Jintao visits this week ahead of a regional summit.

The timing of Hu's visit has raised suspicion Beijing may pressure Cambodia to curb discussions at a Southeast Asian leaders' summit on the vexed question of the South China Sea. Phnom Penh has already said the issue is off the agenda.

"They have the money, so they have the power," said Sem On, a motorbike taxi driver sitting on a railing near the 2nd Chroy Changvar bridge, funded by $27.5 million in Chinese soft loans.

Sem On complains that the Chinese-funded bridge employed more Chinese than Cambodian labourers.

Symbolically, the bridge is being erected next to another bridge restored with Japanese funds in the 1990s, a concrete example of the shift in Asia's economic centre of gravity and in Cambodia's main source of development funds.

Cambodia's authoritarian president Hun Sen says China's investments come with no strings attached, but the assertion will be tested when Hu makes his first visit on Friday, four days ahead of the leaders' summit where some countries will push to address maritime tensions over the South China Sea.

The South China Sea tops Southeast Asia's security agenda after a series of naval clashes over the vast region believed to be rich in energy reserves.

And the issue now risks worsening a divide within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over how to handle the decades-old territorial dispute at a time when Washington is refocusing its attention on Asia.

"We are not expecting any support from them," a Philippine foreign ministry official told Reuters, referring to Cambodia and fellow "Mekong" countries Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, which have also been reluctant to raise the issue.

Philippine officials say they are "very frustrated" over Chinese efforts to block discussion of the issue within ASEAN, but would insist on raising the matter in Phnom Penh even though Cambodia has declared it off the agenda.

Chinese navy ships threatened to ram a Philippine research vessel last March, prompting Manila to scramble planes and ships to the disputed Reed Bank area. The incident prompted Philippine President Benigno Aquino to seek closer ties with Washington, which has signalled a military "pivot" back to Asia. The two allies plan to hold war games around the Reed Bank in April.

"This is a real test for them (ASEAN)," said Carl Baker, director of programmes at the Pacific Forum CSIS in Hawaii.

"It hasn't been very effective because it operates on a basis of consensus, and there is no consensus and there never will be a consensus on the territorial issues."

CAMBODIA IN CHINA'S ORBIT

Cambodia has been rapidly pulled into China's economic orbit in recent years and rarely speaks on the maritime dispute, in which it is not one of the six claimants.

Its tenure as chair of ASEAN this year adds to doubts that the group will be able to formalise a 2002 declaration of conduct and cooperation with China over the South China Sea.

"It's taken them nine years to agree on a set of implementation guidelines for the 2002 agreement," said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. "What are the chances of them coming up with a formal and binding agreement in four months?"

A series of naval flashpoints over the past year, as China, the Philippines, and Vietnam push ahead with plans to develop oil and gas fields, highlight the inadequacy of that agreement and the shortcomings of the ASEAN approach, critics say.

With Myanmar and Laos due to chair ASEAN in 2014 and 2015 following Brunei's turn next year, regional efforts at resolving the dispute could be heading into the deep freeze for years.

China, which says it has sovereignty over the sea and the islands within a looping "nine-dashed line" on its maps, rejected a Philippine proposal within ASEAN in November to define contested areas and allow joint development.

But China has gradually softened its opposition to ASEAN-level discussions, part of a charm offensive to allay concerns about its growing "blue-water" navy. But it still rejects "internationalisation" of the dispute, saying it can be best resolved on a bilateral basis.

Milton Osborne, a Cambodia expert and visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute in Australia, said suggestions that China would exert pressure over the South China Sea issue were speculation but that Cambodia would want to avoid any acrimony on its watch.

"Cambodia is in a privileged position in its dealings with China and I don't think it is going to abandon that position," he said.

Source:By Stuart Grudgings PHNOM PENH, March 29 | Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:25am EDT
(Additional reporting by Prak Chan Tul in Phnom Penh; Manuel Mogato in Manila, Michael Martina in Beijing; John Ruwitch in Hanoi; Editing by Alan Raybould and Michael Perry)
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Vietnam and the USA: The Odd Couple

An alliance of convenience becomes a strategic relationship

Particularly in this American election year, human rights issues will test the durability of the rapprochement between Vietnam and the United States – former enemies now seemingly the best of friends.

Officials from Hanoi and Washington get together frequently these days. An eavesdropper on the bilateral contacts might conclude that the unpleasantness of two generations ago, what Vietnamese refer to as “the American war,” was just a speed bump on the road to intimacy.

Indeed, the officials have plenty to talk about. They are tending a lengthening list of shared interests that include booming two-way trade, the elaboration of a military partnership, US support for public health, education and environmental protection initiatives and a pact that could clear the way for transfers of American nuclear technology.

When the toasting begins after a day of negotiations, there are euphoric references to the ‘remarkable development’ of cooperation between Hanoi and Washington.

What’s remarkable isn’t that old enemies are now friends, but that an alliance of convenience has been dressed up and presented as a ‘strategic relationship.’

Two objectives have guided Hanoi’s re-engagement with the US:
- The regime’s ability to deliver sustained economic growth to Vietnam’s citizenry depends importantly on easy access to the American market and investment capital, and

- US military cooperation will cause China to think twice about pursuing expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea.

The bilateral economic relationship has been under development since the early1990’s, when the collapse of the USSR knocked the props out from under Vietnam’s increasingly shaky ‘socialist’ economy. Diplomatic relations with the US were established in 1996, and a bilateral trade agreement was negotiated by mid-1999.

That trade pact wasn’t approved by the Politburo until more than a year later, however. First conservatives had to be persuaded to shelve their suspicions of American motives – in particular purported support for Vietnam’s of ‘peaceful political evolution’ on the Eastern European model. That hurdle passed. By 2007, with American mentoring and with reformists dominant in the party and government, Hanoi negotiated its admission to the World Trade Organization.

The WTO, however, has not had the tonic effect that reformers predicted. At the insistence of conservatives within its all-powerful Communist Party, Hanoi has continued to coddle a bloated and underperforming state sector. The resultant distortions have sapped the benefits the Vietnamese expected from economic globalization.

The policy stalemate over reform of its state enterprises may explain the Vietnamese government’s otherwise surprising decision to follow the US into negotiations over a ‘Trans-Pacific Partnership.’ Other partners to the TPP negotiation are Singapore, New Zealand, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Australia and Peru and, very soon, also Japan, Korea, Canada, Mexico and Taiwan – but conspicuously not China. Vietnam is much the least developed of the group.

The TPP has been variously described as a springboard to an Asia-Pacific Free Trade Agreement and a ‘21st century paradigm’ that would require adherents to free up agricultural trade and trade in services, remove quotas and enhance intellectual property protection (IPR).

As the TPP agreement is shaping up, Hanoi would surely benefit from better access to developed-country markets for its exports. In turn, however, it would also be compelled to end policy-induced distortions of its internal market in favor of the state enterprise sector and to address labor rights and IPR concerns. That may be precisely reformers’ intention, that is, they may hope to use the market-opening pact to force a policy consensus on structural reform at home.

US-Vietnam security cooperation is a much more recent phenomenon, the linchpin of Vietnam’s defense globalization strategy. Hanoi has also pursued stronger military ties with its Asean neighbors, Australia, Japan, India, France and Russia. Hanoi hopes these 0relationships will buttress its ability to withstand Chinese encroachments on disputed sea areas. Not that it wants to fight, of course. Hanoi’s leaders respect China’s strength and – on a party to party basis – value China’s friendship as long as it stops short of bullying.

Vietnam’s determination not to yield on maritime sovereignty issues dovetails nicely with US determination to prevent any curbs on freedom of navigation through the Malacca Straits/South China sea shipping lanes. The Pentagon has eagerly multiplied military-to-military training exercises with Vietnam, addressing search and rescue, maritime security and disaster relief. There have been well-publicized ship visits and quiet exchanges of military intelligence. To Hanoi’s chagrin, however, Washington has waved off its requests to buy lethal military hardware.

The Vietnamese regime’s posture on human rights will remain a weighty burden on the US-Vietnam relationship. There’s a new generation of politically savvy Vietnamese-Americans who not only care about such things but can swing quite a few votes. Particularly in this American election year, Hanoi’s repression of domestic dissidents can lob a spanner into the bilateral security and trade dialogues.

That shouldn’t be a surprise to Hanoi. US officials from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on down have emphasized that Vietnamese curbs on “universal human rights standards” are an impediment to closer ties. Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman were explicit when they visited Hanoi in February: Vietnam “has a long laundry list of defense items it desires, [but] . . . it’s not going to happen unless they improve their human rights record.”

The connection between human rights performance and Vietnam’s access to the US market isn’t so direct. Whereas weapons sales to Vietnam would require Congress’s specific approval, it’s unlikely that the Congress would refuse to cooperate if a TPP is concluded. Still, Vietnam’s exports remain vulnerable to any number of riders and resolutions that the Congress can attach to prospective legislation, which includes a bilateral investment treaty and an agreement governing transfer of nuclear power technology.

There are plenty of ways human rights issues can condition the American stance. On March 20, for example, Vietnam was thumped by a commission established by the US Congress to monitor how other nations deal with issues of religious freedom. The commission recommended that Vietnam be designated a “Country of Particular Concern,” lumping it with the likes of North Korea, China, Iran and Sudan. Citing specifics, it accused Vietnam of “systematic and egregious violations of freedom of religion and belief” in 2011.

Vietnam’s been off America’s religious freedom blacklist since 2006. Reinstating it there doesn’t require the US administration to sanction Vietnam -- but it is yet another handy justification for Congressional opposition to things Hanoi wants from the US.

Will the commission’s condemnation induce Vietnam to change its behavior? Surely not in any obvious way – Hanoi typically digs in when it’s pressured. Chances are very slim to zero that the Communist regime is going to show more tolerance for people who advocate multiparty democracy or who insist on the right to establish religious, professional or labor organizations unsanctioned by the state. These are bedrock “social stability” issues for the regime. Whether reformist or conservative, Hanoi’s leaders consider maintaining the Party’s absolute monopoly of power to be more important to the regime’s survival than any strategic relationship or trade pact.

China could be a problem, too. The other threat to the ripening friendship between Washington and Hanoi is more Chinese interference with oil and gas exploration off Vietnam’s long coast. Twice last spring, Chinese coast guard vessels harassed survey vessels working for PetroVietnam and for a Philippine oil company. The incidents triggered a surge of patriotic protest in Vietnam and gave new urgency to Hanoi’s pursuit of strategic relationships with other regional actors.

Sinologists argue that the provocations last spring may have been unsanctioned initiatives by elements intent on defending China’s dubious claim to sovereignty over the South China Sea almost as far as Singapore. True or not, there is at the least a substantial faction in Beijing that doesn’t want other nations tapping (still undiscovered) oil and gas that they regard as China’s own.

Big oil companies have been put on notice that if they want a piece of the action in China, they’d better get out of Vietnam. Britain’s BP divested its Vietnam properties in 2010, and early this year the second-biggest American oil company, Conoco-Phillips, sold its US$1 billion stake in Vietnam to a French firm. Exxon-Mobil, however, says it’s intent on developing a recent strike offshore central Vietnam.

Exploration activity picks up in the spring. More incidents like last year’s could put pressure on Washington to intervene. Inevitably they would play into US domestic politics.

It’s the job of diplomats not just to understand what their foreign counterparts are saying but also why, to maintain a clear-headed sense of the possible and, above all, not to oversell what’s on offer when they report to their political masters. Provided their diplomats have done that, both Hanoi and Washington ought to see merit in banking the fires under their courtship for a while -- at least till the end of the year. Neither side is in a position to move much further forward. The immediate challenge will be to sustain what has been achieved, withstand stresses, and not succumb to disillusionment and/or recrimination.

Source: David Brown is a former US diplomat with extensive experience in Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam.
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Vietnam jails pastor of banned Mennonite church

HANOI, Vietnam - (AP) -- A court in central Vietnam sentenced the pastor of an outlawed Mennonite church to 11 years in prison for sowing division between the communist government and its citizens, state-controlled media reported Tuesday.

Nguyen Cong Chinh, 43, was convicted of undermining the government policy of unity at the one-day trial Monday in the central highland province of Gia Lai, the People's Army newspaper said.

Chinh was convicted of authoring and disseminating documents with distorted information that slandered authorities, it said. The paper said he was also convicted of collaborating with "reactionary groups" and inciting ethnic minorities to commit wrongdoing.

Court officials were not available for comment Tuesday.

John Sifton of Human Rights Watch said in a statement that the case is "another stain on Vietnam's religious repression record."

Vietnam's communist government has tight control over society and all churches must get government approval to operate.

"The conviction of Pastor Chinh is yet another demonstration showing how much the government of Vietnam cares about freedom of religion: not at all," said Sifton, the rights group's Asia advocacy director. But he added that Chinh's prosecution "is not going to stop independent religious groups in Vietnam from exercising their beliefs."

Source: March 26, 2012 10:55 PM
By The Associated Press

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Vietnam: Hundreds Protest Land Seizure In Hanoi

Hundreds of farmers gathered in the Vietnamese capital Thursday to demand the return of rice fields they say were confiscated by heavily armed police just days after receiving an eviction notice.

The farmers, from three different villages in Vietnam’s northern Hung Yen province, said they never received an offer for compensation for the 500 hectares (1,235 acres) of land they were forcibly removed from on Wednesday.

A female farmer told RFA that protesters gathered early in the morning carrying placards outside of a municipal building in Hanoi, but that government officials refused to meet with them to hear their complaints.

“We are all residents of Hung Yen province. We departed at 8:30 a.m. with around 500 people to protest. We came to ask about our rice fields. We never agreed to sell and the rice fields need to be returned to us,” the farmer said.

“We came to issue our complaints, but nobody ever offered to solve the problem. They avoided facing us—nobody would come out,” she said. “Our slogans say, ‘We didn’t sell our riceland. Return it now!’”

Vuong Quang Hien, a resident of one of the villages in Van Giang district where the incident occurred, said he was angered that the government would resort to such measures to seize his land.

“They started taking the land. We received no compensation—not even a penny,” he said.

“The armed forces, military troops, and security personnel are supposed to protect the country. Why are they sent to destroy people’s houses?”

‘Totally Illegal’

Villager Nguyen Thanh Thien said he had joined the protest in an effort to save his home, which was in the process of being razed.

“They’re using steel cable to tow down my house now. It’s very repressive,” he said.

“Against only one person they use a hundreds-strong force of police and security personnel armed with guns and tear gas.”

Vu Loi, a lawyer who joined the demonstration, called the land seizure “totally illegal.”

“The notice did not reach the victims until March 19 and by March 21the land was already in the process of being confiscated,” he said.

“Land is supposed to only be confiscated 20 days after compensation money is handed to the occupants. This seizure occurred only two days after the notice—not the compensation—so it’s in violation of Item 32 of Rule 69 [of the land law].”

Land Policies

The protests follow a call from Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in February to revamp the country’s land management policies and a vow to punish corrupt local officials for their role in a high-profile land eviction case in Hai Phong city.

Farmer Doan Van Vuon is in jail for attacking security forces who came to repossess his farmland in the northern port city on Jan. 5, a case widely reported in the country’s media, which is tightly controlled by the ruling Communist Party.

But Prime Minister Dung, who has taken a personal interest in the case, called the repossession and forced eviction “illegal,” asking officials to expedite Vuon’s trial and reduce the charges against him.

Dung also warned officials to ensure that evictions and land seizures are carried out “in strict accordance with the law.”

All land in Vietnam belongs to the state and people only have the right to use it. Land expropriation has been linked to several incidents of unrest in recent years.

In an annual report released earlier this month, the California-based Vietnam Human Rights Network, said the “violent means of [Vietnam’s] police state apparatus [were] strengthened and directed against the citizens,” in 2011 in an effort to restrain land petitioners’ gatherings and to put down resistance to forced evictions.

Reported by An Nguyen for RFA’s Vietnamese service. Translated by Viet Long. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
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VIETNAM: Democracy or subservient to China?

When Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh speaks to international audiences, he usually does so without a translator. At 53 years old, Minh's relative youth and proficiency in English set him apart from his predecessors.

But he is not unique among his present diplomatic colleagues. Hanoi's current crop of senior diplomats, appointed following the 11th Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party in January 2011, tend to be younger and more cosmopolitan than the dour communist officials who have historically been the face of the country.

This stylistic change reflects the coming of age of diplomats who studied in top American schools in the 1990s as Vietnam opened up. It also comes at a critical time in the country's foreign relations. As the second-largest country (after Indonesia) in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Vietnam is increasingly seen as a key player in regional issues.

At the same time, Hanoi is engaged in a web of bilateral security dialogues with the United States, Australia, Japan, Korea, India, France, Great Britain and Russia, all in an unspoken effort to balance against a rising China. Vietnam and other ASEAN states are locked in a sovereignty struggle with China over potentially oil- and gas-rich areas of the South China Sea.

The ability to comfortably converse with foreign counterparts is obviously critical to a diplomat's effectiveness and perceived image. The official biography of Nguyen Quoc Cuong, Vietnam's current ambassador to the US, states that he is "fluent in English". That is a description that could not be applied to previous Vietnamese ambassadors, whose halting English reportedly left audiences sometimes confused.

Like his boss the foreign minister, Cuong is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, one of the leading international relations programs in the US. Le Hoai Trung, the current Vietnamese permanent representative to the United Nations, is another Fletcher graduate. With the prodigious number of Vietnamese government officials who are alumni of the school, one might think a "Fletcher mafia" is calling the shots at Vietnam's Foreign Ministry.

To understand how far Vietnamese diplomats have come, consider the situation of Le Van Bang, who was caught illegally digging for clams on Long Island, New York, in 1994 while he was ambassador to the United Nations. Bang and his driver ''acted like they didn't speak English when they were confronted by the harbormaster", according to the local prosecutor.

Ultimately, no charges were applied when Bang claimed diplomatic immunity. (Bang went on to become the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's first ambassador to the US when Hanoi and Washington normalized relations the following year.)

Rights and security 


A key question for Vietnam watchers is how the generational shift underway at the Foreign Ministry might affect policy. Will communist Vietnam become more Western and open to diverse political currents, or will it be even more determined at maintaining the country's authoritarian status quo?

A test case will be human rights, which is often a point of contention in relations between Vietnam and Western democracies. While Vietnam's top diplomats rarely divert in public from the party line, they are probably keenly aware of the international repercussions from their government's poor human-rights record.
Hanoi's crackdown against political dissent - widely documented by international human rights groups - is perhaps the biggest stumbling block to establishing a strategic relationship between the US and Vietnam. American officials from Senator John McCain to Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell have recently emphasized that Hanoi must improve on human rights before the US can consider selling it military hardware.
America is not alone in highlighting rights in its relations with Vietnam. France reportedly suspended security talks with Vietnam last year following the detention of Pham Minh Hoang, a high-profile blogger with dual French-Vietnamese citizenship. The security discussions are now slated to resume following Hoang's early release from prison in January.

There are also looming questions about how much high-level influence the Foreign Ministry really wields. Tradeoffs will have to be made as the Hanoi leadership calibrates between closer ties with America, which is a perceived threat to internal security through pressure on human rights, and China, which is a danger to external security as it seeks to dominate the South China Sea. The views of the internationally sensitive Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the inward-looking Ministry of Public Security may diverge on this issue.

Significantly, there are currently no Foreign Ministry representatives on the 14-man Communist Party politburo, the ultimate political power. As one of the two Foreign Ministry officials on the 175-member Communist Party central committee, Pham Binh Minh could conceivably be promoted to the politburo in the near term, but changes in the body's membership generally only occur at five-yearly party congresses. The next one is not scheduled until 2016. Without a seat at the table, Vietnamese diplomats are still most likely executing rather than deciding foreign policy.

Ironically, Vietnam's last powerful foreign minister was Nguyen Cao Thach, the father of Pham Binh Minh. A member of the politburo and deputy prime minister, Thach served as top diplomat from 1980-1991. Regarded as pro-Soviet and anti-China, Thach was eventually eased out of office after Hanoi and Beijing re-established diplomatic ties after severing relations in the wake of a brief border war in 1979.

Thach's tenure represented an era when Vietnam was firmly in the Soviet camp. Beginning in 1991, Hanoi pursued a new foreign policy of "friends with everyone" as it sought global integration while remaining one of the world's last remaining communist states.

That policy has largely run its course and Hanoi now faces the dual challenges of dealing with an ascendant China and Western pressures for political reform. And while Vietnam's new crop of envoys are more savvy and fluent in the art of diplomacy, they still lack the clout to deliver on their policy preferences at a crucial juncture in the country's international affairs.

source: The Hanoist writes on Vietnam's politics and people.
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Myanmar, Vietnam: the Pros and Cons

The scramble for Myanmar among Western investors has yet to extend far beyond scouting trips and vague statements of intent.

Not so with companies from Vietnam, which had few qualms about doing business with Myanmar’s military dictatorship before political and economic reforms of the last year. Many are moving ahead with investment plans.

At a bilateral investor meeting in Hanoi on Wednesday, held to coincide with a visit by Thein Sein, Myanmar’s president (pictured right with Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam), the chairman of the association of Vietnamese investors in Myanmar announced a $100m agricultural investment and said he hoped for progress on a number of other fronts, including the untapped mobile telecoms sector.

Tran Bac Ha, whose day job is to be chairman of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, one of the country’s biggest state-owned banks, called on Vietnamese investors to pay more attention to Myanmar, calling it “the last golden destination in Southeast Asia”.

Ha said An Giang Plant Protection, a Vietnamese agricultural group, and VinaCapital, a fund manager with several London-listed funds, had signed an agreement with Eden Group, a Myanmar conglomerate run by tycoon and rice association chief U Chit Khiang, to develop a $100m agricultural processing factory.

The chairman of BIDV, which opened a representative office on a piece of prime real estate on Yangon’s Pyay Road last year, said the two big Vietnamese state-owned telecoms groups VNPT and Viettel were hoping to get a licence to build mobile phone networks in Myanmar, which still suffers from woeful telecoms connections.
And Hoang Anh Gia Lai, a large Vietnamese property group, has already announced plans to build a $300m shopping, office and residential complex in Yangon.

Overall, Vietnam wants to increase direct investment in Myanmar from $500m to $2bn and to lift bilateral trade from $167m last year to $500m by 2015.

Having lobbied Western governments for some years to engage more closely with Myanmar, Vietnamese officials feel rather pleased with themselves about the tentative opening up of the country and the fact that the US and the EU have begun easing sanctions.

Vietnamese officials feel they have many useful lessons for Myanmar about developing a transition economy and dealing with the emergence from isolation and US sanctions.

But as Myanmar moves ahead with reforms to its legal framework and currency system, some in Vietnam are already concerned that Hanoi’s little friend may become a strong competitor for much-needed foreign direct investment.

On the political front, Myanmar, which conducted its first ever naval visit to Vietnam last week, could be a useful ally as both nations have been courting the US, Japan and others to balance against the rising power of China, the giant on their doorstep.

At the same time, political reforms in Myanmar – including the release of many political prisoners and the relaxation of some censorship – may increase the pressure on Vietnam over its lack of progress on human rights and democracy.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, a campaign group, said that although Vietnam is used to advising Myanmar, the Vietnamese government “should seriously consider following the lead of their visitor, president Thein Sein” when it comes to human rights.

While the economic opportunities in Myanmar look set to grow, Vietnam’s Communist leaders may find it more tricky to deal with a tentatively democratising, nominally civilian government than a pure military dictatorship.

Source: Financial Times by Ben Bland March 21,2012
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Calls for Vietnam to be put back on the CPC Backlist

A religious freedom watchdog again calls for U.S. action against the Southeast Asian nation.

Vietnam should be returned to a U.S. State Department list of the world’s worst religious freedom offenders, according to a new report by a bipartisan commission which wants improved bilateral relations to be based on “concrete improvements” in Hanoi’s rights record.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a congressional watchdog, said the one-party communist Vietnamese government controls all religious communities, restricts and penalizes independent religious practice severely, and represses individuals and groups viewed as challenging its authority.

The commission also recommended maintaining Burma, North Korea, and China as “countries of particular concern” (CPC) on religious freedom, a designation that can carry economic sanctions unless governments address the U.S concerns.


Vietnam should be returned to a U.S. State Department list of the world’s worst religious freedom offenders, according to a new report by a bipartisan commission which wants improved bilateral relations to be based on “concrete improvements” in Hanoi’s rights record.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a congressional watchdog, said the one-party communist Vietnamese government controls all religious communities, restricts and penalizes independent religious practice severely, and represses individuals and groups viewed as challenging its authority.

The commission also recommended maintaining Burma, North Korea, and China as “countries of particular concern” (CPC) on religious freedom, a designation that can carry economic sanctions unless governments address the U.S concerns.

Aside from the three East Asian nations, those already in the so-called CPC blacklist updated annually by the State Department are Eritrea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.

The commission said in its annual report Tuesday that it is recommending to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Vietnam, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan be included in the CPC list this year.

Call to reinstate

The U.S. State Department had included Vietnam in the CPC list from 2004 to 2006 but has since ignored repeated calls by the commission to reinstate the country on the blacklist.

“Vietnam deserves to be a listed among the world’s worst violators of religious freedom and it’s difficult to understand why they are not. The facts clearly speak for themselves,” said Scott Flipse, Deputy Director of the USCIRF.

In 2011, Vietnam continued to imprison and detain individuals for religious activity and advocacy for religious freedom, the commission said, adding that independent religious activity remains illegal while legal protections for government-approved religious organizations are vague.

New converts to ethnic-minority Protestantism and members of at least one Buddhist community faced discrimination, intimidation, and pressure to renounce their faith, it said.

“Vietnam is one of our new best friends in Asia and there are opportunities to cooperate on trade and security issues, but Hanoi should not be rewarded without concrete progress on human rights and religious freedom,” Flipse said.

“The U.S. must condition progress in the relationship until there are concrete improvements in religious freedom and related rights.”

Lingering abuses

USCIRF said that even as a nominally civilian government took power in Burma and implemented several political reforms in recent months, religious abuses have lingered.

“Despite changes in other areas, religious freedom conditions have not improved in Burma this year,” Flipse said.

Religious groups, particularly ethnic minority Christians and Muslims and Buddhist monks suspected of engaging in anti-government activity, faced surveillance, arrest, severe restrictions on worship, and targeted violence in Burma, the report said.

Many monks who participated in peaceful democracy demonstrations in 2007 remain in prison, the group said, and a ban on independent Protestant house church activities remains.

“Burma should not be rewarded for actions it has yet to take and targeted sanctions should remain until the Rohingya Muslims are free from discrimination, all Buddhist monks are freed unconditionally, and Christians are no longer targets in the Burmese militaries ongoing war with ethnic minorities,” Flipse said.

Widespread violations

The Chinese government routinely violated freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief this year, ignoring its international obligations to protect these rights, USCIRF reported.

“Religious freedom continues to be a thorny bilateral issue” between the U.S. and China, Flipse said.

“The [ruling Chinese] Communist Party is getting the message that religion will not disappear, but they still have to decide how to deal with groups that resist government control and oversight—do they accommodate or repress. Too often they repress brutally with predicable results,” he said.

Religious groups and individuals considered to threaten national security or social harmony, or whose practices are deemed cult-like, faced severe restrictions, harassment, detention, imprisonment, and other abuses, the report said, pointing specifically to conditions for Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur Muslims.

China also detained hundreds of unregistered Protestants and Catholics in 2011, while adherents of the spiritual Falun Gong sect were tortured and mistreated in detention. Attorneys representing religious groups were also targeted by authorities.

“The U.S. must attempt a ‘whole of government’ approach to human rights with China,” Flipse said.

“Human rights discussions should not be cordoned off to an annual human rights dialogue, but connected to every part of the bilateral relationship.”

Scathing reports

Following the December death of leader Kim Jong Il and the succession of his son Kim Jong Un, USCIRF said North Korea remains one of the world’s most repressive regimes last year, with a “deplorable human rights and religious freedom record.”

The group cited continued reports of discrimination and harassment of both authorized and unauthorized religious activity in 2011, as well as the arrest, torture, and possible execution of those conducting clandestine religious activity.

It said asylum-seekers repatriated from China routinely faced mistreatment and imprisonment, particularly those suspected of engaging in religious activities, having religious affiliations, or possessing religious literature.

Watch listed

Laos remained on the USCIRF watch list for 2012 based on “serious religious freedom abuses” which, the commission said, continued during the past year.

It said that while religious freedom conditions have improved for the majority Buddhist groups and for Christians, Muslims, and Baha’is living in urban areas, the government restricted religious practices through its legal codes and religious rights abuses continued in some rural areas.

“Provincial authorities continue to see the growth of Protestantism among ethnic communities as a security threat, despite some improvements elsewhere in Laos,” Flipse said.

USCIRF documented violations by rural officials against Protestants including detentions, surveillance, harassment, property confiscations, forced relocations, and forced renunciations of faith.

“Training Lao officials to protect human rights and urging them to stop violence and intimidation against ethnic minority Protestants should be job one at the U.S. Embassy in Laos,” he said.



Refer to full report  http://www.uscirf.gov/images/Annual%20Report%20of%20USCIRF%202012%282%29.pdf

March 20,2012 - RFA by Joshua Lipes.
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Activists pull out of meeting with Asean leaders

Independent Asean activists will boycott a traditional meeting with regional leaders in a sideline session of the Asean Summit in Phnom Penh next month after the Cambodian government set conditions for nominating their representatives.

Asean non-profit organisation representatives were to meet Asean leaders on April 3 in a related session of the summit in Phnom Penh on April 3-4 under the so-called interface dialogue.

Phnom Penh has sidestepped the nomination of representatives by telling its Asean colleagues to nominate their own people instead of the Asean Civil Society Conference and the Asean People's Forum (ACSC/APF) as normal.

NGOs said Cambodia's action has undermined the process of independent groups galvanising local support and coordinating functions with other Asean counterparts.

Suntaree Saeng-ging, secretary-general of the Thai NGO Coordination Committee, told the Bangkok Post the Asean NGOs have decided to proceed with their own plans with an ACSC/APF meeting at the Lucky Star Hotel in Phnom Penh on March 29. The theme of transforming Asean into a people-centred community will have as its keynote speaker a renowned political prisoner from Myanmar, Min Ko Naing. But they will boycott the government interface.

"Why do we have to be their decoration and simply let ourselves be used as a justification that Asean is participatory and people-centred, despite their negligence towards the significance of transparency and accountability for the people's voices," Ms Suntaree said.

An activist source said the Cambodian Council of Ministers was responsible for the nomination issue, not the Foreign Ministry.

The Council of Ministers has assigned two Cambodian representatives _ a woman, Prak Sokhany, executive director of Cambodian Civil Society Partnership, and a youth _ to meet at the interface dialogue on April 3.

Phnom Penh also told its Asean partners to select two people from their respective NGOs. In Thailand's case, the Social Development and Human Security Ministry has nominated Chalida Tacharoensak from the People's Empowerment Foundation, sources said.

This has undermined the fragile unity and poor coordination among NGOs in all Asean countries, another source said.

Source: Bangkok Post - March 18,2012
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/284842/activists-pull-out-of-meeting-with-asean-leaders

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SHAMEFUL India Plans to copy Angkor Wat

SHAME!!!SHAME!!!SHAME ON INDIA TO COPY ANGKOR WAT!!!

ALL KHMER MUST PROTEST AT INDIAN EMBASSIES AROUND THE WORLD AGAINST THIS ACT OF STEALING BY THE COWARD INDIANS FROM 
KHMER NATIONAL PRIDE!

A DIPLOMATIC confrontation is looming over the building in India of a replica of Cambodia's massive Angkor Wat, the country's most popular tourist attraction and its national symbol.

The Cambodian government has described the building of a replica to create the world's largest Hindu shrine on the banks of the Ganges as a ''shameful act'' that could affect its future relationship with India.

An Indian religious organisation, Mahavir Mandir, has already held a ceremony to purify the land on which the temple, to be called Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir, will be built in the state of Bihar. Work is scheduled to begin next month and be completed in 10 years.

The director of Sydney University's archaeology project at Angkor Wat, Damian Evans, said Cambodians are predictably outraged about the project, ''as I am sure Indians would be if a nearby country decided to build a clone of the Taj Mahal''.

Dr Evans said building a replica showed a ''remarkable lack of cultural sensitivity by this group in India, considering how central Angkor Wat is to Khmer [Cambodian] national identity''.

Angkor Wat was built by King Suryavarman II as his state temple and capital city in the 12th century. Originally the 82-hectare temple complex was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu before being used for Buddhist worship after the monarchy converted to Buddhism.

The main sandstone temple is depicted on Cambodia's flag and is a source of great national pride.
India has many experts to call upon to build the replica, which will be higher than the original and will stand 68 metres above the Ganges near the Bihar capital, Patna. Archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India carried out restoration work on Angkor Wat between 1986 and 1992.

The secretary of the Mahavir Mandir Trust, Kishore Kunal, said Angkor Wat was the ''most marvellous monument ever made by mankind and I just want to make the largest Hindu temple in the world''.

A Cambodian government spokesman, Phay Siphan, said building a full-scale replica of Angkor Wat was a ''shameful act'' and a deliberate attempt to undermine its ''universal value''.

source: The Sydney Morning Herald March 20,2012
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/cambodia-outraged-at-plans-for-angkor-wat-replica-in-india-20120319-1vfv2.html

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Vietnam website restrictions cause US concern, official says

The lack of access within Vietnam to some Internet sites poses a long-standing concern, Daniel Baer, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said at a briefing in Hanoi today.

The U.S. is concerned about Internet freedom in Vietnam, Baer said. He also cited Decision 20, new rules the Southeast Asian country is requiring of international broadcasters, as a “concern.”

There has not been much progress on human rights in Vietnam and the U.S. is concerned that some individuals were imprisoned or punished by Vietnamese authorities for exercising human rights, Baer said.

By Bloomberg News - March 18, 2012 at 2:55 p.m ...Read more>>>

Vietnam's Need for Constitutional Reform

Doan Van Vuon: national hero

A man’s home, it has been said, is his castle. In countries where the rule of law prevails, everyone—government officials, property owners, and their neighbors—recognizes that a property owner has the right to own his or her land and to use it for his or her personal enjoyment or business purposes, subject only to local zoning ordinances.

In Vietnam, however, the situation is far different. All land is owned by the state, and citizens are granted temporary leases to use the land for their personal economic development at the household level. When a bureaucrat’s plans change, your claim to a parcel of land can quickly become meaningless.

A recent incident involving Vietnamese farmer Doan Van Vuon shows what can happen in countries that lack or a strong system of protections for private property and a commitment to the rule of law. In January 2012, Doan Van Vuon coordinated an act of armed resistance by placing home-made bombs on his 47 acres of land in the Tien Lang district of Hai Phong city. He took this step to fend off the 100 policemen and soldiers the local authorities sent to invade his land and forcibly remove him and his family.

Vuon has been an exemplary and law-abiding citizen; he is an agriculture engineer by formation and served his country in the military in a time of war. He and his family members spent 14 years transforming a wasteland into shrimp and fish ponds, which were worth US$250,000. Tragically, his daughter and nephew drowned during those development years.

It is common practice in China or Vietnam for local authorities to revoke the land lease and give it to other developers; the authorities take large sums of money in a process that amounts to bribery. The seizure of Vuon’s land followed the common practice. The local authorities issued a revocation order a few years ago and did not provide any compensation for the land development.

Vuon took the matter to the People’s Higher Court of Hai Phong for litigation and arbitration. The arbitration was agreed upon and signed by the local authorities and Vuon in front of the Court. The agreement stated that Vuon would drop the lawsuit and the local authorities would renew the land lease. As soon as the lawsuit was dropped, the local authorities proceeded with the land seizure without any compensation.

The agents were ambushed with home-made bombs and firearms even though Vuon was not present at the scene of the invasion or land seizure. Four police officers and two soldiers were wounded or injured in the skirmish. Vuon and three relatives were later arrested following the armed confrontation.

A few days later, the regional government apparently hired three local men to bulldoze Vuon’s nearby house, even though the home wasn’t on the contested property.

Vuon was about as far from a common criminal as one could imagine. According to Voice of America, “Vuon has been hailed as a model farmer because he transformed barren land into a thriving fish farm, prompting other farmers in the area to follow his lead and make a profit.” Until the government arrived to seize his land, he embodied the ideal of the small farmer living peacefully and productively, an ideal that has been recognized for centuries.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote in 1781 of his admiration for farmers in his Notes on the State of Virginia. “Those who labor in the earth,” he wrote, “are the chosen people of God.” Even a number of retired generals, ministers and even former president Le Duc Anh came to Vuon’s defense and praised him for his hard work and achievement in transforming a wasteland into a productive agricultural development.

The Hai Phong authorities’ treatment of Vuon demonstrated not respect but contempt. The Communist authorities showed great disregard for his long-standing claim to the land that he farmed so effectively. Instead of seeing Vuon’s farm as an example of what hard work can achieve for a community, the Vietnamese authorities saw his land as a way to make profits with possible new redevelopment. Vietnam’s government should ensure that citizens who work hard and foster economic growth don’t lose everything they’ve built simply because central planners want to implement a new development project for their land.

In the US, the situation would have been resolved far differently. If a unit of government wants to exercise eminent domain to obtain land for a necessary public works project, such as an airport or highway, the unit of government has to provide the property owner with fair market value for his or her land. If the property owner disputes the necessity of the land condemnation, he or she could take the unit of government to court, where an impartial judge evaluates the evidence and rules on the legality of the property’s condemnation.

In Vietnam, however, decisions regarding land seizures are often made by local governments, such as the Hai Phong city government. With a court system that follows the dictates of the ruling Communist Party, citizens have few means of protecting their property. According to Freedom in the World 2011, published by the non-partisan research organization Freedom House, “Land disputes have become more frequent as the government seizes property to lease to domestic and foreign investors.

Affected residents and farmers rarely find the courts helpful, and their street protests have resulted in harassment and arrests by the state.” Although Vuon has a lawyer to represent him, according to Freedom House, in general, “lawyers are scarce, and many are reluctant to take on human rights and other sensitive cases for fear of harassment and retribution—including arrest—by the state.” Unlike the court system in the United States, the judicial branch provides little protection to Vietnam’s citizens.

This case is truly very revealing about where real power lies in the Vietnamese system. The court failed to resolve the dispute and the legality of the local authorities’ order of land seizure. It was up to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who made the final determination that the order was an illegal act. Furthermore, as the Land Lease Law is about to expire next year and the communist authorities are unable to decide how to reform the law; potential reforms include lengthening the term of the land lease or allowing private land ownership.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung just decreed an extension of the land lease for another 20 years. He bypassed the legislative power of the National Assembly, which is actually a rubber stamp for all policies forwarded by the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Vuon’s case shows that Vietnam is in need of major constitutional reforms. The Vietnamese government should move rapidly to end its monopoly on property and give its citizens the ability to own the land that they have farmed for decades. Beyond property reform, though, citizens should demand that Vietnam’s Communist government give them the ability to speak freely about political issues without fear of imprisonment.

Vietnam’s Communist leader, Ho Chi Minh, invoked what can best be described as the language of human liberty when he delivered his “Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam” on September 2, 1945. He opened his speech by repeating, almost verbatim, a line from the United States’ 1776 Declaration of Independence.

Ho Chi Minh said, “All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His Proclamation included a litany of France’s abusive conduct toward Vietnam, just as the U.S. Declaration of Independence described the tyranny of Great Britain’s King George III. Ho Chi Minh later observed, “All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.”

He concluded his Proclamation with these words: “The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.” Today, the greatest threat to liberty comes not from a foreign colonialist power, but rather from Vietnam’s Communist government. Under a Communist regime, Vietnam will remain only a shadow of what it has the potential to be. A government dominated by like-minded individuals—loyal members of the Communist Party—is not well-positioned to thrive politically or economically.

The sad thing is that while Vuon, his brother and his nephew are being charged for attempted murder, the local authorities who abused their power and vandalized Vuon’s house have not been criminally charged because they are party members. Even Vietnam’s press finds it laughable that the same local authorities who seized Vuon’s land were later called upon to rectify their mistake. After the outcry by the public, the local authorities were dismissed or suspended temporarily.

Vandalism is a crime. The local authorities should be charged instead of enjoying their privileges of being officials and party members.

When the land revocation order was judged as an illegal act, the mobilization of force to enforce an illegal act is also illegal. Therefore, the local authorities are solely responsible for the wounded officers. Vuon and his family did nothing wrong morally and legally. Vuon and his family were not even at the scene when the officers were injured by the mines.

How can they be charged with attempted murder even though they were not even at scene? Vuon may be held for illegal possession of arms. However, the officers were trespassing illegally onto Vuon’s land and did so at their own peril. America is lucky to have the 2nd Amendment, which allows the citizens to bear arms to oppose tyrants.

Vuon’s act of courage to resist forcefully the tyranny of local authorities has set in motion a process that will help millions of farmers over the next two decades—the length of the 20-year land-lease extension set by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The Vietnamese communists acted so quickly in issuing the lease extension decree because they wanted to avoid the implosion of their control and power of the country. There may have been armed resistance movements against the communist regime or arms used by street criminals and gangsters in Vietnam. Vuon’s act of making weapons—as a law abiding citizen—to resist tyranny is the first such act in the communist history.

This is the turning point of the regime as oppression can only apply so much until one day the whole system implodes, just as it did in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Not because political parties fight for power, but because the people have had enough of the communist government’s oppression and intrusion, and the people will rise. Therefore, We Are All Doan Van Vuon.

Asia Sentinel -- by Tayson DeLengocky is a Vietnamese-American living in Illinois
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The true face of ‘human rights’ at the UN

GENEVA — I have spent the past few days in Geneva with some of the most remarkably brave people one is ever likely to meet. All have suffered horrendously for calling for freedoms in their countries — the kind of freedoms that people elsewhere take for granted.

But none of them were invited to Geneva by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the UN’s most prominent body that is supposed to deal with human rights, which is meeting here in annual session.

This is the organization behind the infamous and now discredited “Goldstone report” on Gaza. This is the organization that in 2009 praised Sri Lanka’s human rights record shortly after that country’s military had killed 40,000 Tamil civilians.

On Monday, I sat in on this year’s UNHRC debate, and listened to the Syrian ambassador — with a straight face and with no gasps of disapproval from other delegates — tell the chamber that it was really Israelis who were behind the ongoing violence in Syria. And I heard delegates from Cuba, Syria, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and elsewhere praise the Iranian government’s human rights record. (In fact, in addition to a litany of other abuses, Iran carried out the highest number of executions of any country in the world last year, for such “crimes” as being homosexual, or being a member of the Baha’i faith — though it is true that some other countries’ delegates did condemn Syria and Iran for other matters.) This week, the HRC also adopted a report heaping praise on the Gaddafi regime’s human rights record.

The human rights ambassadors engaged in this activity while sitting under the newly painted ceiling art of the council chamber — a remarkably unimpressive piece that the UN says cost $23-million — money that the UN might have used to, say, feed starving children in Africa.

In the entrance to the chamber, two pieces of art, from the time before its renovation, remain. On one, the plaque reads “A statue of Maat, ancient goddess of truth and justice”; it was donated by Egypt’s Mubarak regime. On the other, it says “A statue of Nemesis, Goddess of justice, donated by the Syrian government.”

Just down the road from the UN, another human-rights summit took place the following day — one where actual human rights heroes were present. That summit was organized by UN Watch, and a coalition of 20 other human-rights groups, from Tibet to Uganda.

Among the speakers were Chinese dissidents Ren Wanding, who during more than 10 years in prison produced a two-volume attack on the Chinese government painstakingly written on toilet paper; and Yang Jianli, who was released from jail in 2007, and who in 2010 was asked by the jailed Liu Xiaobo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on his behalf.

Also speaking were Joo-il Kim and Song Ju Kim, who endured a living hell in North Korea before risking their lives to escape. And Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, who survived 20 years in prisons in Castro’s Cuba, where he was severely tortured and had his bones broken on many occasions. He was finally released last year and immediately expelled from Cuba. He has now taken refuge in Spain.

Then there was Zimbabwean activist Jestina Mukoko, who was imprisoned and tortured for calling for democracy in her country. And Burmese activist Zoya Phan, a member of the Karen minority, which has undergone virtual genocide in recent decades. In addition, there were other brave democracy campaigners from Vietnam, Tibet, Pakistan and elsewhere.

I chaired the final session, which was on the Middle East. Impassioned speeches were given by Maikel Nabil, a young Egyptian veterinary student released seven weeks ago after enduring 302 days in a Cairo prison. For much of this time, he was held in solidarity confinement in a one-metre square space. In other periods, he was packed into a cell with 50 common criminals who were bribed by the guards to beat him. Maikel’s crime? After President Mubarak’s ousting last year, he dared to ask the Egyptian military to cede power too, and wrote blog posts calling for Egyptian society to treat women, gays and Jews with respect. In jail, Maikel went on a hunger strike for 80 days and almost died. But none of this broke him, and on his release on January 24 he waved a “V for victory” sign to waiting supporters.

Also on the panel was Ebrahim Mehtari who, for daring to oppose Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2009 presidential bid in his native Iran, was thrown into prison, raped, tortured and left for dead on the side of a road. Ebrahim’s life is still at risk, since he is one of the few who speak out about the widespread use of sexual torture in Iranian prisons.

Finally, there was 20-year-old Hadeel Kouki, who had been studying English literature in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Caught trying to bring medical supplies to children injured in one of her government’s barbaric and indiscriminate bombardments of civilians last year, she was imprisoned for eight weeks. During that time, she was subjected to electric shocks and repeatedly raped by prison guards. She asked me to tell the world the name of the guard she says was her chief rapist: Abdul Hakeem Abdullatif.

Upon her release, Hadeel managed to escape across the border to Turkey. She has now been offered political asylum by a Western country. I won’t name that country since Syrian thugs — who see her as a particular threat because she is a Christian standing up against the regime when Syria’s Christian leadership are still backing Assad — sent her messages only last week, warning that “we will catch up with you wherever you are and throw acid all over your beautiful face”.

American and Canadian embassy staff came to UN Watch’s alternative Geneva human rights summit. But where were the other ambassadors? Does the UN care about human rights? Or does it prefer to be in league with the criminals of the world?

National Post--by Tom Gross is a former Middle East correspondent of the London Sunday Telegraph. an>
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Khmer Krom Entertainment of the Week

Khmer Krom Entertainment from Kampuchea Krom of the Week
WARNING: Please enjoy Khmer Krom music, but we advise to ignore the Vietcong  propaganda messages in this video.  This presents a little window to Khmer Krom community under the Vietcongs' iron-grip on Khmer Krom's livelihood today.


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Minnesota House committee passes bill to recognize Cambodian [and Khmer Krom] vets who served US troops in Vietnam


ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota House committee has passed a resolution that would have Congress and the president recognize Cambodian veterans who fought alongside U.S. troops in Vietnam.

Witnesses from veterans' groups testified Monday that the Khmer (kuh-MY') Freedom Fighters destroyed enemy supplies, rescued American pilots shot down in enemy territory and provided other support. About 30 Khmer Freedom Fighters and their children attended the hearing.

The International Khmer Assembly says recognition would empower Khmer veterans to participate in Memorial Day and other U.S. veterans' services and activities.

The resolution now goes to the House floor. No action has been taken in the Senate.

Recommended Reading on Khmer Krom's contributions to the US Special Forces during US-Vietnam War in the Mekong Delta

source: AP - March 5, 2012 
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ASEAN Community Learning Native Languages

Source Bangkok Post - March 11, 2012
There has been a great deal said about the need to improve English-language skills ahead of the formation of the Asean Economic Community in 2015, but much less emphasis is put on communication between members in their native languages. While English is indispensable as a common international language, a multilingual approach also has clear advantages for building regional understanding and relations.

According to research released in January by Chulalongkorn University, in addition to English, people in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar are interested in studying Thai. Many Thais also express interest in learning regional languages to promote cultural understanding.

Consequently, in 2010 the government initiated a multilingual programme in border area schools at the Mathayom (Grade 6-12) level to teach the Lao, Khmer, Myanmar and Vietnamese languages. But a shortage of teachers skilled in these obstacles is preventing the programme from expanding.

Prayoon Songsil, an expert in Khmer and associate professor at Dhonburi Rajabhat University in Thon Buri, expressed concern over the scarcity of programmes at the college and university level geared toward teaching students and training teachers in regional languages, particularly Burmese and Vietnamese.

Students wishing to learn Khmer should have less difficulty, as there are about 20 universities nationwide offering courses.

''We have taught the Khmer language in universities for some time. Therefore we have the resources to accommodate the expected influx of students,''she said.

Ms Prayoon said each university devises the curriculum and sets the duration of its Khmer language programme, with the aim of giving students functional skills and a solid basis for further learning. She said sufficient time must be allowed. ''Three years of intensive study is enough for functional speaking, reading and writing,'' she said. Ms Prayoon initiated the Khmer language course at Dhonburi Rajabhat University about 20 years ago when Cambodia started to reopen after being isolated for years.

''In those days many students couldn't understand why the university was offering courses in Khmer. The courses are optional, but right from the beginning we urged those majoring in Thai to take Khmer courses because the languages have a lot in common and have influenced each other,'' she said.

For many years Ms Prayoon was the only teacher of Khmer at the university. Over time the number of students wishing to study the language gradually increased, and at times limits had to be placed on the number of students accepted into the programme.

The situation has improved because there are now more qualified Thai teachers who can teach Khmer and because of cooperation from universities in Cambodia, which supply teachers for certain periods of time.



Ms Prayoon, 63, studied Khmer and graduated from Silpakorn University.

''Back in those days, people laughed when I told them I was studying Khmer because they couldn't picture how it could be of benefit to my career.'' However, her choice led to job security as more people become interested in learning the language. It has been a labour of love for her. ''Through the language I've learned so much about the country and the people, their culture, beliefs and ways of life,'' she said.

''It is a good trend that people in the cities are becoming more open-minded and wanting to learn more about their neighbours,'' said Ms Prayoon, adding that the Asean Community is an ''important step in understanding each other and living together in peace''.

''People in Cambodia and Laos have for a long time listened to Thai radio programmes and watched Thai television programmes, but Thai people, apart from those living along the border, do not open their minds to learn from them. We do not know them.''

Ms Prayoon is also interested in helping language students on the other side of the Thai-Khmer border.

She explained that both Phnom Penh University and Meanchey University in Sisophon province offer Thai classes.

''In Phnom Penh there are about 80 students taking Thai courses at different levels,'' said Ms Prayoon. ''Meanchey University has offered Thai language courses as a major programme of study for three years now.'' However, there is a shortage of language teachers in Cambodia as well as here.

''My university has entered into a memorandum of understanding for an exchange of teachers, but our teachers are fully occupied,'' she said. A Thai teacher was finally sent to teach Thai literature, but for three months only.

''At Meanchey University, besides offering Thai classes to students, they also want their staff to to speak, read and write Thai. This proves that our neighbours have a curiosity about us,'' she said.

However, said Ms Prayoon, the political and military conflicts between the two countries in recent years have hampered cooperation. Some Thai teachers contemplating working in Cambodia have opted to teach in China or Vietnam instead. Safety remains an important consideration, although the bilateral situation has improved considerably of late.

CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION

Meanwhile, regional cooperation is quite good in the few border area schools involved in the government's multilingual programme at the Mathayom level. Boonruang Kajama, a teacher at Prasatvittaya School in Surin province said that his school doesn't have any shortage of teachers for its language courses.

Prasatvittaya is one of four schools in the country offering multilingual programmes. The other schools are in Si Sa Ket, Chiang Rai and Tak, all border provinces.

Prasatvittaya School offers students in Mathayom 1 to 6 classes in Lao, Burmese, Khmer and Vietnamese, as well as English.

''We have teachers from Laos and Cambodia to teach our students. The school has networks with those countries for personnel exchange. Our teachers of Vietnamese are Thai who are trained in the language,''said Mr Boonruang. He added that in Surin province many locals speak Lao or Khmer dialects at home, so it is much easier for students to pick up these languages, reading and writing as well as speaking.

Mr Boonruang said most everyone agrees that students should learn English, but some parents have difficulty accepting that their children should learn the languages of neighbouring countries. This is especially true when proficiency in a particular language is not valued within the community and the parents do not think that it will help their children in their future careers.

But Mr Boonruang said this attitude is changing. The school has campaigned to promote the importance of the coming Asean Community and explain why students should be encouraged to study regional languages. Both students and parent have a better understanding now, he said.

In 2010, there were 25 students enrolled in the multilingual programme. Last year this increased to 62 students.

Students learning Khmer went to Siem Reap in Cambodia to practise the language and learn about the lives of the locals, and there was a similar cross-border trip for students learning Lao.

''Learning foreign languages is not difficult for children,'' said Mr Boonruang. ''Early language training makes them fluent, especially when it's a language their parents or other members of the community already use in daily life.

''If we people in Asean countries can communicate among ourselves in our own languages, we will become closer. It will help reduce conflicts. We already share many religious and cultural beliefs.''

Supamas Tevadithep, a teacher at the multilingual Mae Sai Prasittisart School in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district, said her school has offered classes in Burmese for 10 years, long before the government initiated the multilingual programme in 2010.

The school also has classes in Chinese. In the bustling border trading town many residents speak Thai, Burmese and also Chinese.

''Most people in Mae Sai can speak or understand Burmese to an extent,'' said Ms Supamas, and this is a big advantage when it comes to teaching children as well as adults.

So far the school has not faced a shortage of either Burmese or Chinese teachers.

''We have qualified native speakers to teach our students. Moreover, we have close contacts with Rangoon University, which from time to time sends staff to provide extra lessons to the students,'' said Ms Supamas.



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Vietnam jails 8 Hmong for rare unrest

(03-14-2012) 00:04 PDT HANOI, Vietnam (AP)

A Vietnamese court has sentenced eight Hmong ethnic minority leaders to up to 30 months in jail over rare unrest in the country's northwestern highlands.

Presiding Judge Pham Van Nam says the men were convicted of assaulting authorities and inciting others to gather to call for an independent state. They were arrested in early June following a religious gathering of 5,000 in Dien Bien province.

Two were given 30 months in jail, while six others received two-year sentences Tuesday.

Nam said Wednesday that police are still hunting for three ringleaders. Officials accuse overseas Hmong groups of being behind the gathering.

There is a history of mistrust between Vietnam's government and the Hmong, a hilltribe minority with a separate cultural identity.

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Over 24,000 women, children freed in human-trafficking crackdown

Source: The IrishTimes - CLIFFORD COONAN March 12,2012
POLICE IN China rescued over 24,000 kidnapped women and children nationwide last year, the country’s public security ministry told the annual parliament, the National People’s Congress, in an ongoing crackdown on human trafficking.

In all, police rescued 8,660 abducted children and 15,458 women in busts of 3,195 human trafficking gangs during 2011, the ministry said.

Girls who are kidnapped are often sold into prostitution and in one high-profile case last year, the police busted a gang that was trafficking women to Angola. In the raid, 19 women were rescued and 16 suspects were apprehended.

Human trafficking is a major problem in China, as the traditional preference for boys over girls, especially in rural areas, and the one-child policy of population control, has seen a rise in the number of boys kidnapped and sold, often to childless couples.

Girls and women also are abducted and used as labourers or as brides for unwed sons, because the one-child policy has seen a massive discrepancy in the birth ratio between the number of boys and girls.

In July last year, 89 children were rescued when police busted two major human-trafficking rings in south China, and the suspects were mostly Vietnamese, smuggling children from Vietnam into China.

The ministry also cited the ministry’s work in helping reunite children with their families, using new technology such as a DNA database for missing children.

The ministry has also opened up a Weibo microblog account to help gather intelligence on missing persons cases.

“The ministry reaffirmed its tough stance on trafficking and vowed sterner crackdowns against such crimes,” Xinhua News Agency said.

The ministry did not give any figures for the total number of women and children abducted last year.

Abductions and human trafficking have become serious public concerns after a string of revelations in past years, including a shocking 2007 scandal in which thousands were forced into slave labour in brickyards and mines across the nation.

The latest big case was on Friday, when police rescued 77 children and arrested 310 suspects after busting four child-trafficking rings, where gangs were buying infants in poor rural areas and selling them to big cities.

More than 7,000 police officers from 14 provinces, including Shandong, Guizhou, Henan, Shanxi, Yunnan and Guangxi, took part in a joint operation.
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Vietnam in the 2012 list of the Enemies of the Internet

Source: Reporters Without Reporters - MONDAY 12 MARCH 2012

Bahrain and Belarus move from “under surveillance” to “Enemies”. Libya and Venezuela had been dropped from the list of countries “under surveillance” while India and Kazakhstan have been added to it.

Bahrain and Belarus, new Enemies of the Internet

Two countries, Bahrain and Belarus, have been moved from the “under surveillance” category to the “Enemies of the Internet” list, joining the ranks of the countries that restrict Internet freedom the most: Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. They combine often drastic content filtering with access restrictions, tracking of cyber-dissidents and online propaganda. Iran and China, in particular, reinforced their technical capacity in 2011 and China stepped up pressure on privately-owned Internet companies in order to secure their collaboration.

Iran has announced the launch of a national Internet. Iran and Vietnam have both launched a new wave of arrests, while the bloody crackdown on protests in Syria is hitting netizens hard and is enabling the regime to perfect its mastery of online surveillance with Iran’s help. Turkmenistan has fought its first battle in the war over Information 2.0 while North Korea, which is developing its online presence for propaganda purposes, is confronted with an increase in smuggling of banned communications equipment across the Chinese border. In Cuba, bloggers supportive of the government and those critical of the regime argue online.

Saudi Arabia has continued its relentless censorship and suppressed coverage of a provincialuprising. Uzbekistan took measures to prevent Uznet from becoming a forum for discussing the Arab springs. There is one light of hope: the situation is improving in Burma, where the military have permitted the release of journalists and bloggers and the unblocking of news websites, but the legislative and technical tools for controlling and monitoring the Internet have yet to be dismantled.

Bahrain offers an example of an effective news blackout based on a remarkable array of repressive measures: keeping the international media away, harassing human rights activists, arresting bloggers and netizens (one of whom died in detention), smearing and prosecuting free speech activists, and disrupting communications, especially during the major demonstrations.

In Belarus, President Lukashenko’s regime has increased his grip on the Web as the country sinks further into political isolation and economic stagnation. The Internet, a space used for circulating information and mobilizing protests, has been hit hard as the authorities have reacted to “revolution via the social media.” The list of blocked websites has grown longer and the Internet was partially blocked during the “silent protests.” Some Belarusian Internet users and bloggers have been arrested while others have been invited to “preventive conversations” with the police in a bid to get them to stop demonstrating or covering demonstrations. The government has used Twitter to send messages that are meant to intimidate demonstrators, and the main ISP has diverted those trying to access the online social network Vkontakte to sites containing malware. And Law No. 317-3, which took effect on 6 January 2012, reinforced Internet surveillance and control measures.

Movement in “countries under surveillance” list

The countries “under surveillance” list still includes Australia, whose government clings to a dangerous content filtering system; Egypt, where the new regime has resumed old practices and has directly targeted the most outspoken bloggers; Eritrea, a police state that keeps its citizens away from the Internet and is alarmed by its diaspora’s new-found militancy online and on the streets of foreign cities; France, which continues its “three-strikes” policy on illégal downloading, with suspension of Internet access, and wher administrative filtering is introduced by an internal security law and appears with increasing frequency in decrees implementing laws; and Malaysia, which continues to harass bloggers (who have more credibility that the traditional media) in the run-up to general elections.

The “under surveillance” list also includes Russia, which has used cyber-attacks and has arrested bloggers and netizens to prevent a real online political debate; South Korea, which is stepping up censorship of propaganda from its northern neighbour and keeps an array of repressive laws; Sri Lanka, where online media and journalists continue to be blocked and physically attacked; Thailand, where the new government sends bloggers to prison and is reinforcing content filtering in the name of cracking down on lèse-majesté; Tunisia, where freedom of expression is still fragile and content filtering could be reimposed; Turkey, where thousands of websites are still inaccessible, alarming filtering initiatives have been taken and netizens and online journalists continue to be prosecuted; and the United Arab Emirates, where surveillance has been reinforced preventively in response to the Arab Spring.

Venezuela and Libya no longer under surveillance

In Libya, many challenges remain but the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime has ended an era of censorship. Before his removal and death, Col. Gaddafi had tried to impose a news blackout by cutting access to the Internet.

In Venezuela, access to the Internet continues to be unrestricted. The level of self-censorship is hard to evaluate but the adoption in 2011 of legislation that could potentially limit Internet freedom has yet to have any damaging effect in practice. Reporters Without Borders will nonetheless remain vigilant as relations between the government and critical media are tense.

India and Kazakhstan, new additions to the “under surveillance” category

Since the Mumbai bombings of 2008, the Indian authorities have stepped up Internet surveillance and pressure on technical service providers, while publicly rejecting accusations of censorship. The national security policy of the world’s biggest democracy is undermining freedom of expression and the protection of Internet users’ personal data.

Kazakhstan, which likes to think of itself as a regional model after holding the rotating presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010, nonetheless seems to be turning its back on all its fine promises in order to take the road of cyber-censorship. An unprecedented oil workers strike, a major riot, a strange wave of bombings and the president’s ailing health all helped to increase government tension in 2011 and led to greater control of information, especially online information: blocking of news websites, cutting of communications around the city of Zhanaozen during the riot, and new, repressive Internet regulations.

Thailand and Burma may be about to change places

If Thailand continues down the slope of content filtering and jailing netizens on lèse-majesté charges, it could soon join the club of the world’s most repressive countries as regards the Internet.

Burma could soon leave the Enemies of the Internet list if the country takes the necessary measures. It has clearly embarked on a promising period of reforms, which has included the release of journalists and bloggers and the restoration of access to blocked websites. It must now go further by abandoning censorship altogether, releasing the journalists and bloggers still held, dismantling the surveillance apparatus that was built on the national Internet platform, and repealing the Electronic Act.

Other countries to watch

Other countries have jailed netizens or established a form of Internet censorship. Even if they are not on these lists, Reporters Without Borders will continue to closely monitor online freedom of information in countries such as Azerbaijan, Morocco and Tajikistan, to name just a few.

At the time of writing, Pakistan has invited private-sector companies to bid for the creation of a national Internet filtering and blocking system. Reporters Without Borders has asked the authorities to abandon this project, which would result in the creation of an Electronic Great Wall. If they go ahead, Pakistan could be added to the Enemies of the Internet in 2013.



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