In Vietnam, weary apparatchiks launch quiet revolution

BY MARTIN PETTY
HANOI Thu Nov 28, 2013

Vietnam's National Assembly's deputies press voting buttons to pass the new constitution during a meeting in Hanoi November 28, 2013.

(Reuters) - The Vietnam of today wasn't what Le Hieu Dang had hoped for when he joined the Communist Party 40 years ago to liberate and rebuild a country reeling from decades of war and French and U.S. occupation.

The socialist system of the late revolutionary Ho Chi Minh has been corrupted, he says, by a shift to a market economy tightly controlled by one political party that has given rise to a culture of graft and vested interests.

"I fought in the war for a better society, a fair life for people. But after the war, the country has worsened, the workers are poor, the farmers have lost their land," Dang told Reuters.

"It's unacceptable. We have a political monopoly and a dictatorship running this country."

Opinions like this might be normal in many countries. But in Vietnam, where politics is taboo, free speech is stifled and the image of unity in the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) sacrosanct, analysts say the significance of comrades speaking out publicly cannot be understated.

The CPV-dominated National Assembly on Thursday approved amendments to a 1992 constitution that, despite a public consultation campaign, entrench the party's grip on power at a time when discontent simmers over its handling of land disputes, corruption and an economy suffocated by toxic debt amassed by state-run firms.

Dang is vehemently against the amendments, and not alone in his views, which are of the kind that have landed dozens of people in jail as part of a crackdown that's intensified as dissent has risen and internet usage soared to a third of the 90 million population.

Draconian cyber laws were tightened further on Wednesday, when the government announced a 100 million dong ($4,740) fine for anyone who criticizes it on social media.

But what has jolted the party is that the loudest voices calling for a more pluralist system are coming not from the general public, but from within its own ranks, an open act of mutiny not seen since the CPV took power of a reunified Vietnam in 1975, after the communists' triumph over U.S. forces.

"Vietnam has entered a new phase. The existence of rivalries within the party is already known, but it's now more transparent in a way never seen in the past," said Jonathan London, a Vietnam expert at City University in Hong Kong.

"The rise of this group and its advice will influence the tenor of party discussion. What's clear is this is a period of uncertainty and competition."

CRISIS AND DEADLOCK

This year, Dang and 71 others, among them intellectuals, bloggers and current and former CPV apparatchiks, drafted their own version of the constitution, in response to a routine public feedback campaign ostensibly aimed at placating people and boosting the party's dwindling legitimacy.

Their draft was posted online and 15,000 people signed an accompanying petition calling for the scrapping of Article 4, which enshrines the CPV's political monopoly.

But lawmakers did the opposite and redrafted the article to expand the CPV's leadership role and the military's duty to protect it. In a summary of 26 million public opinions on the draft, a commission of the National Assembly said the majority of Vietnamese supported one-party rule.

"Theoretically, democracy is not synonymous with pluralism," the commission said in a report in May. "No one can affirm that multiple political parties are better than one party."

On Thursday, not a single lawmaker rejected the new draft, which expanded Article 4 to state the party is "the vanguard of the Vietnamese workers, people and nation".

A draft of the amendments, published weeks ago, outraged opponents.

The initial 72 democracy advocates were joined by others and 165 of them, including retired government officials, published a statement on the Internet two weeks ago warning lawmakers to reject the amendments.

They said if National Assembly members passed the amendments, they would be complicit in a "crime against the country and its people" and would "only push the country deeper into crisis and deadlock".

'BRIDGING ROLE'

Many of the party's open critics took part in the wars to liberate Vietnam from Western powers in the 1950s, '60s and '70s and have become new revolutionaries of sorts, confronting issues that most Vietnamese are afraid to discuss.

Nguyen Quang A was once part of an advisory think-tank which disbanded itself after the government introduced laws that limited the scope of its work five years ago.

It included former CPV members, diplomats, businessmen and academics. But they stay in touch at monthly meetings to debate social, economic and political issues, some of which they address in commentaries posted online.

"We want to create an environment to facilitate the emergence of other political forces and put forward a process to transition from dictatorship to democracy," he told Reuters.

"We hope some of our members can play a bridging role to make the party listen to us. It takes time, but we have to pressure them to change and convince people not to be afraid."

Dang and his CPV allies are going a step further. They plan to remain in the party so they can drum up support from disenchanted members to set up an opposition party to scrutinize the CPV's policies and keep it in check.

Despite their fierce rhetoric, they insist the plan to set up the Social Democratic Party is not an attempt to overthrow the ruling party but an attempt to create a more liberal coexistence between parties that would benefit the country.

Ho Ngoc Nhuan, vice chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the Fatherland Front, the CPV's umbrella group that manages big organizations under Marxist-Leninist principles, said the feedback campaign and constitution amendments were a "tragic comedy" that showed the party was out of touch with the people.

It was time, he said, to shake up Vietnamese politics.

"We face many problems in Vietnam, big crises, so how can we solve it with one all-powerful party? We have to get their attention, so we're calling comrades in the party to join us so we can break this chain," Nhuan said, admitting that it was proving difficult to convince them.

"The new generation can't explain socialism to us anymore. They're called the Communist Party, but they no longer believe in their own ideology."

(Editing by Robert Birsel)
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Vietnam Announces Big Fines for Social Media Propaganda

Reuters - November 27, 2013

HANOI — Vietnam will hand out fines of 100 million dong ($4,740) to anyone criticizing the government on social media, under a new law announced this week, the latest measure in a widening crackdown on dissent by the country's communist rulers.

Comments that did not constitute criminal offenses would trigger fines if held to be “propaganda against the state”, or spreading “reactionary ideology,” according to the law signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Vietnam has repeatedly drawn fire for the harsh treatment and lengthy jail terms it has given to bloggers who criticized its one-party regime. The number of arrests and convictions has soared in the last four years.

The new decree is vaguely worded and did not say what comments amounted to a criminal offense, which can be punished with prison, or an “administrative violation” that rates a fine.

Internet penetration is soaring in a country of an estimated 90 million people, a third of whom use the Internet and about 20 million of whom have Facebook accounts, a report published at a seminar on information technology in Ho Chi Minh City in September showed.

A Vietnamese Facebook user who campaigned online for the release of his brother jailed for criticizing the government fell foul of the same law and was last month sentenced to 15 months of house arrest.

Rights groups and foreign governments have come down hard on Vietnam over its draconian cyber laws, including the United States, which has urged Vietnam to improve its human rights record to strengthen its case for stronger trade ties.

Media freedom campaigners Reporters Without Borders calls the country “an enemy of the Internet.”

The law would anger social media users, said Nguyen Lan Thang, a well-known Vietnamese Internet activist, who questioned the need for it.

“How could the government be destroyed by comments and the sharing of information on personal social media?” Thang said.

The decree also said anyone posting online a map of Vietnam inconsistent with the country's sovereignty claims faced fines.

The issue is hugely sensitive in Vietnam, where China's perceived encroachment of territory generates the kind of quiet anger experts say Vietnam's government wants to rein in.
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Vietnam Wins Human Rights Seat Despite Tainted Record

The Diplomat, by Luke Hunt - November 15,2013

NGOs are skeptical about the UN’s odd choices for upcoming Human Rights Council.

Earlier this year, Global Witness scored international headlines with a telling report on illegal land grabbing in Cambodia and Laos by Vietnamese companies and the extraordinary damage these companies had inflicted on the environment from which they profited.

The report, Rubber Barons, claimed that Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) and another Vietnamese company, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), were the biggest offenders and that both were partially supported by Deutsche Bank through Vietnam-based funds.

HAGL also has investment from the International Financial Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank. Both Vietnamese companies have denied any wrongdoing. Deutsche Bank and the IFC said they would study the findings.

However, Global Witness now says HAGL has failed to keep to commitments to address environmental and human rights abuses in its plantations in Cambodia and Laos and it now poses a financial and reputational risk to its investors, including Deutsche Bank and the IFC and recommends they divest.

“HAGL has been very good at making commitments but very bad at keeping them. It’s been busy telling us and everyone else it’s serious about changing its ways, but the evidence indicates that logging is still carrying on and the people whose farms were bulldozed are still struggling to feed themselves,” said Global Witness spokesman Megan MacInnes.

Both companies are state-backed by the Vietnamese government, which was also raising eyebrows this week after it was elected to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council despite its own atrocious record on the issue.

Vietnam was not the only dubious appointment and Hanoi will take up the three-year posting on January 1 alongside China, Russia, Algeria and Cuba – casting doubts on the United Nations and its ability to meet its own charter on human rights.

Given Vietnam’s negative attitude toward dissent, directed at bloggers in particular, their appointment should be the cause of acute embarrassment for the world body and the countries that do their best to adhere to international standards on human rights.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, said he believed Vietnam could only play a negative role.

“I hope the government of Vietnam will prove me wrong, but up to date we haven’t seen any sort of indication that the government of Vietnam is going to change its policies because (of) the election to the Human Rights Council,” he told Voice of America.

Given Hanoi’s attitudes to its own companies – like HAGL and VRG – and the shenanigans they’re responsible for on the international business front, groups like Human Rights Watch and Global Witness have good reason to be cynical about Vietnam’s appointment to the coveted seat.
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Vietnam's deputy prime ministers: Party People

The Economist - Nov 18th 2013, 3:24 by M.I. | HANOI

Nguyen Tan Dung, Truong Tan Sang, Nguyen Phu Trong (left to right)

SOME Western advocacy groups imply, in their regular harangues of Vietnam's human-rights record, that the country is run by an all-powerful and well-oiled authoritarian regime. The truth, however, appears to be more complicated.

It is clear to analysts that the Ministry of Public Security operates a vast surveillance apparatus designed to silence political dissident—even on Facebook—and that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has major influence over key policy decisions. To wit: his emergency directives earlier this month helped to evacuate successfully nearly 800,000 people from coastal areas ahead of Typhoon Haiyan. Relief agencies praised his efficiency and foresight.

Yet the government is also, like a schoolyard, full of turf wars. Some provincial officials chafe at central directives, for example, while ministries openly undercut each other. And inside the ruling Communist Party, Mr Dung is said to be embroiled in a tug-of-war with a rival party faction led by Truong Tan Sang, the president, and Nguyen Phu Trong, the party's general secretary. Adam Fforde, a Vietnam specialist at Victoria University in Australia, wonders aloud if the country is a "land without a king."

However, the state-controlled press occasionally tosses out crumbs of information that indicate which politicians are advancing, or vice versa, through Hanoi’s opaque bureaucracies and vast patronage networks. A case in point was the appointment by the National Assembly, on November 13th, of two new deputy prime ministers. With the apparent blessing of Mr Dung and the Communist Party’s elite Politburo, the assembly chose Vu Duc Dam, a former assistant to a previous prime minister, and Pham Binh Minh, the current minister of foreign affairs. A current DPM, Nguyen Thien Nhan, has been dismissed and moved to the comparatively unglamorous position of heading the Homeland, or Fatherland, Front, an organisation tasked with mobilising support for the regime and selecting National Assembly candidates.

Seasoned observers say the reshuffle suggests a few interesting things about Vietnamese politics. The main takeaway is that Mr Dung appears to be reasserting his influence after rebounding from months of heavy internal criticism. A year ago he was forced by his rivals to publicly apologize for mismanaging the economy, but he is now filling his cabinet with loyal and highly competent allies. He may have his eye on 2016, when he will step down as prime minister but could remain in the Politburo. Although not all DPMs are Politburo members, the general view is that it certainly wouldn’t hurt Mr Dung to have some of his closest associates in top government positions.

Neither Mr Dam or Mr Minh are in the running for the premiership in 2016, in analysts’ view, and Mr Minh never will be because he is a career diplomat who doesn't have a wide-enough political base. But Mr Dam, who was until recently chairman of the government office—the rough equivalent to an American president's chief of staff—could eventually become a candidate for both the top job and a seat on the 16-member Politburo. Tuong Vu at the University of Oregon, in America, says the politician with a better chance of becoming prime minister in 2016 is the current first DPM, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who is already a Politburo member.

However, Mr Minh has retained his position as head of the foreign ministry, and his DPM election could help allay lingering concerns among top Vietnamese officials that the country can't pursue an effective foreign policy if its foreign ministry lacks pull in the Politburo. Mr Minh, who has a graduate degree in law and diplomacy from Tufts University, in America, and has served as a diplomat in both New York and Washington, is not yet a candidate for the Politburo, and he may never be. But Professor Vu said last week that Mr Minh’s DPM appointment would be a “compromise solution” designed to raise the ministry’s profile.

It is difficult to predict whether or to what extent Mr Minh's new title will have any direct bearing on Vietnam's human-rights record or its negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an American-led free-trade agreement involving a dozen countries. (America’s treasury secretary, Jacob J. Lew, visited Hanoi on November 14 to help drum up support for it.) Equally unknown is who will get the premier nod in 2016. Analysts say it probably won’t be Nguyen Thien Nhan, the recently departed DPM. Some see Mr Nhan’s dismissal as both a sidelining and a reflection on his allegedly poor performance as education minister.

It is clear, however, that Vietnam’s 90m people won't be consulted on the Party’s next choice of prime minister, or for that matter, anything else; the government still does not allow free elections. Party congresses are effectively closed to the media, and following Hanoi politics is perhaps a bit like watching a football match through the wrong spectacles: The pitch and the general outlines of the action are clear enough, but not the footwork or the tackles.
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U.N. Court Rules for Cambodia in Temple Dispute With Thailand

By THOMAS FULLER
Published: November 11, 2013

BANGKOK — The International Court of Justice on Monday handed Cambodia a partial victory in its territorial dispute with Thailand over the land surrounding an ancient temple along the country’s border.

The court, the top judicial body of the United Nations, said in its judgment that Cambodia had sovereignty over the immediate area around Preah Vihear Temple — the promontory on which it sits. But the court left unresolved who controls a larger disputed area, where Cambodian and Thai troops have clashed in recent years.

Thailand, the court said, is “under an obligation to withdraw from that territory the Thai military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, that were stationed there.”

Nationalist groups have urged the Thai government not to respect the verdict. In a nationally televised speech after news of the decision, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the government would negotiate further on the issue with Cambodia.

Ownership of the temple and its surrounding areas, a dispute that dates back decades, is an emotional one and has been used by politicians on both sides of the border to stoke nationalist feelings.

Cambodia was awarded sovereignty over the temple itself in a 1962 decision by the same court, based in The Hague, and Monday’s judgment clarified that decision.

The border between Thailand and Cambodia was drawn by French officials in the early 20th century.

News services reported that Cambodia’s foreign minister, Hor Namhong, had said the ruling was “good enough.”

Yuthasak Sasiprapha, Thailand’s deputy defense minister, said Thai troops stationed near the border would “stay where they are,” pending further talks with Cambodia.
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VOA Exclusive: US Official Says Vietnam Must Progress on Rights to Deepen US Ties

Michael Lipin, VOA News
November 06, 2013

A senior U.S. diplomat says Vietnam must make "demonstrable progress" on human rights in the coming months, if it wants to deepen its relationship with the United States, a former wartime foe.

In an exclusive interview with VOA, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Scott Busby said he stressed the importance of human rights to Vietnamese officials on a trip to Vietnam last week.

Busby visited the country from October 29 to November 2, traveling to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to meet representatives of the government and Vietnamese civil society groups.

US calls for action

In an interview Wednesday, Busby said the United States needs Vietnam to show signs of progress on human rights in the "near term."

"Such signs would include releasing some people who have been detained or imprisoned for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression; signing, ratifying and implementing the convention against torture, lifting any and all restrictions on the Internet, enhancing the state of religious freedom, and allowing civil society to operate freely," said Busby.

Busby said he also "strongly encouraged" Vietnam to begin working with four international rights investigators appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The Vietnamese government's Washington embassy did not provide a comment on the talks with Busby when contacted by VOA.

Vietnam's position

Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang recently said his government has made "sustained efforts to protect and promote human rights." He made the comment in a landmark meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on July 25.

The meeting earned Sang the honor of being only the second Vietnamese leader to hold talks with a U.S. president in Washington since the former enemies normalized relations in 1995.

Sang said Vietnam and the United States still have differences on human rights and held "straightforward, open discussions" on the matter.

Some U.S. lawmakers and rights groups accuse the Vietnamese government of intensifying repression of political dissidents and religious figures in recent years.

Focussing on arrests

Busby said arrests and harassment of Vietnamese social activists were a "primary topic" of his meetings with government officials.

"They did share some information about who was arrested and who was in custody and why they were in custody. I would say, as a general matter, the government officials characterized all of their actions as efforts to enforce their laws and to protect their national security," he said.

He said protecting the work of Vietnamese civil society groups is a high priority for Washington.

"We are stressing to the government the importance of the activities that civil society is engaged in, whether it is religious practice, exercising rights to free speech, working on human rights issues, or organizing humanitarian activities. We have clearly indicated the esteem in which we hold these activities. We do provide some programmatic support to civil society as well, although I can't get into the details," said Busby.

Engaging Vietnamese activists

Busby said he met with a "wide array" of civil society members and was impressed by what he called their "energy, optimism and courage" in the face of government restrictions.

Busby said those constraints affected how he conducted his meetings.

"One does have to tread carefully. The government is not allowing civil society to do all that it wants to. And indeed there were some individuals who were not able to meet with me because of those restrictions. We did not inform the government of whom we were meeting with. We went ahead and tried to meet with whoever was willing to meet with us," he said.

One Vietnamese blogger who met the U.S. official in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday is Pham Chi Dung. Speaking to VOA by phone, Pham said he tried to help Busby understand what he and other activists want to achieve.

Rights movement's aims

"The main goal of civil society in Vietnam is to help resolve social, economic and political issues. 'Civil society' helps to voice people's concerns regarding the nation's sovereignty, basic human rights, land rights of farmers and legitimate rights of workers, as well as [their concerns about] corruption," said Pham.

Pham said those who want to help Vietnamese activists should be careful about the kind of assistance they provide.

"Vietnam's civil society does not want financial support from the United States or any foreign country, but rather moral support for civil society-related activities such as establishing civic culture or civic forums both online and offline. If we get support financially, we will be accused of receiving money from foreign countries with the aim of overthrowing the government," he said.

Burma's example

Pham said he told Busby that Burma is the best regional model for Vietnam to follow in terms of democratic development. A Burmese civilian government took office in 2011, ending decades of military rule and initiating political reforms that have won growing support from the West.

Busby said he discussed Burma as one model of a transition from an authoritarian to a free society.

"I don't remember discussing it as the best [model], because there are other examples like Indonesia that I think could be drawn on. We did talk about the positive developments in Burma and what might be learned from how that could be applied to Vietnam," he said.

UN cooperation

Busby said Vietnamese officials also promised to receive a visit from one of the U.N. investigators whom he encouraged them to co-ordinate with: the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights Farida Shaheed of Pakistan.

The other three investigators include Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression Frank La Rue of Guatemala, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association Maina Kiai of Kenya, and Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Gabriela Knaul of Brazil.

Vietnam is seeking a seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council in a U.N. General Assembly vote to be held on November 12.

The U.S. diplomat said the Vietnamese government told him it would like U.S. support for its candidacy. But, he said Washington does not divulge how it is going to vote on such matters ahead of time.

Additional agenda items

On other issues, Busby said Vietnam "reaffirmed its commitment" to joining the U.N. convention against torture.

Busby also asked officials and activists about the government's August decree restricting Internet access. He said he learned that the measure is "still in the process of being implemented" and was not aware of any cases to which it has been applied so far.

In the area of religious freedom, the diplomat said he urged Vietnam to speed up the registration process for churches throughout the country.

Busby said he hopes to return to Vietnam next year.

Editor's note:
Busby spoke about his visit with Pham Chi Dung only after the Vietnamese blogger had talked about the meeting in an earlier interview with VOA. Busby wouldn’t provide details about the meetings he held with other activists in Vietnam.


This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Vietnamese service. Tra Mi contributed from Washington.
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Electing the New UN Human Rights Council

By Elliott Abrams, Council on Foreign Relations
November 6, 2013

Next week, on November 12, new members of the UN Human Rights Council will be elected. Among the candidates are nations that should never be allowed on the Council, and indeed whose presence will make the Council a mockery: Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, and Vietnam.

Perhaps the United States cannot prevent countries with the human rights records of these five from being elected. There are two things we should do, however. First, we should fight, trying to organize resistance to the election of any of these five human rights abusers. Even if they cannot be kept off, a very substantial number of no votes will be a useful embarrassment to them, showing that many countries condemn their records.

Second, we should announce that the United States will vote no on all five. The UN Human Rights Council was created in 2006 because the UN Human Rights Commission was a disgraceful mockery of support for human rights. Under the Bush administration the United States refused to join until the new entity proved itself to be different. In 2009 the Obama administration announced it would seek election, and did join the Council. The announced goal, part of the “new era of engagement” about which President Obama often spoke, was to strengthen both human rights and the Human Rights Council: then-UN ambassador Susan Rice stated at the time that “Those who suffer from abuse and oppression around the world, as well as those who dedicate their lives to advancing human rights, need the Council to be balanced and credible.” The addition of human rights abusers like Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, and Vietnam does not make the Council more credible, and it makes the place more balanced only if the balance is supposed to be between human rights defenders and human rights abusers. If all five of these abusers are elected, the Council will be tilting hard toward abusers. The United States should say so.
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Vietnam's Talk/Fight Strategy in play on Human Rights Negotiations

By Michael Benge, The AmericanThinker

For decades, the Vietnamese communists' negotiating strategy has been "Talk/Fight" -- first in dealing with the French, then with the U.S. during the Vietnam War, and now in the current U.S.-Vietnam Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. The "Talk/Fight" strategy is to engage their opponent in negotiations, stalling for time, all the while replenishing, repositioning, and resupplying their troops, as they gain ground and concessions. According to Ernest Bower, senior advisor on Southeast Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "[t]he American government admires Vietnam's strategic thinking."

The TPP includes nine other countries besides Vietnam and is touted as a new-generation, high-standard trade agreement of the 21st century. The finalization and implementation of this trade deal would give a huge boost to U.S.-Vietnam economic relations, granting Vietnam even greater access to its largest export market -- the U.S.

While the State Department continues to meander and vacillate in its negotiations regarding human rights abuses, communist henchmen have ratcheted up the repression in Vietnam. As a distraction, the Vietnamese communists are playing the need-to-contain-China card, while seeking lethal weapons from the U.S., supported by both of Vietnam's major advocates -- Senator John McCain and Secretary of State John Kerry.

American TPP negotiators are mouthing toothless concerns about Hanoi's ongoing gross human rights abuses, so one can assume that stipulations on the improving freedoms for the Vietnamese people will be incorporated into the agreement before it is approved. However, history shows that the Vietnamese communists have never lived up to any agreement with the U.S., so it is reasonable to expect the communist henchmen to go merrily on their way, continuing their repression, while thumbing their noses at the U.S.
The TPP is a done deal if one is to believe Scott Busby, the acting deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, who recently stated in Falls Church, VA, "The United States and Vietnam continue to improve economic and trade ties, including through the Trans-Pacific Partnership ... free trade agreement."

Vietnam is a police state where one in six working people are employed either full- or part-time in the massive state security network.

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." (The more things change, the more they remain the same.)

Here are just a few human rights abuses committed recently by communist Vietnam:

September 3rd: It started out as a peaceful protest until Vietnamese police attacked hundreds of Catholics protesting in front of their church in My Yen Parish, Nghe An Province, using live ammunition and throwing grenades. Protesters were demanding the release of two parishioners arrested in June and held without charges. An unknown number of people were rushed to hospital with critical head, hand, stomach, and neck injuries after being beaten by police who tried to stop people from receiving treatment.

August 1st: After three years' imprisonment in Gia Lai province and suffering continual beatings, Protestant pastor Pyap Rolan died from starvation after being denied food and water. Pyap was being persecuted because he was a house church pastor and because his father Bre Puih had escaped and fled to the U.S.

August 1st: House church members Beu Siu and Pet Ksor from Plei Pong Village Gia Lai province were arrested by police. Pet was beaten and released, but Beu's fate is unknown.

August 19th: House church members Kla Rmah, Sop Rahlan, and H'Bleng Rmah (female) from Plei Sur village, Gia Lai province, were arrested by police and beaten, Sop so severely that he cannot walk. Kla remains in jail, while the other two were released. Reports about above came from relatives in North Carolina.

March 17th: Hmong Christian Church Leader Vam Ngaij Vaj of Cu Jut District, Dak Nong Province, was tortured with electrical batons and died of beatings while in police custody, according to sources.

April 12th: Hoang Van Ngai, an elder of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, also from Dak Nong Province, died of beatings, according to his brother, who was imprisoned in an adjacent cell. Additionally, "over 300 witnesses saw Ngai's body with bruises, deep cuts and broken skull."

According to its recent report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms (USCIRF) said that Vietnam, under one-party communist rule, is expanding control over all religious activities, severely restricts independent religious practice, and represses individuals and religious groups it views as challenging its authority. "The Vietnamese government uses a specialized religious police force and vague national security laws to suppress independent Buddhist, Protestant, Hoa Hao, and Cao Dai activities, and seeks to stop the growth of ethnic minority Protestantism and Catholicism via discrimination, violence and forced renunciations of their faith."

Internet freedom has gone from bad to worse in Vietnam as an online censorship law known as "Decree 72" went into effect this month, allowing people to post online only personal information. The new law punishes anyone who discusses current affairs or news sensitive to the life of the state. It bans bloggers and users of social media from quoting, gathering, or summarizing information from press organizations or government websites. In addition, internet providers are tasked with blocking stories that criticize Vietnam or that could endanger "national security." In 2013 alone, Hanoi has arrested more than 40 activists for these so-called "crimes against the state."

While the Obama administration vacillates, the European Parliament recently strongly condemned the violations of human rights and of freedom of expression, religion, and assembly in Vietnam, including the political intimidation, harassment, assaults, arbitrary arrests, heavy prison sentences, and unfair trials brought against political activists, journalists, bloggers, dissidents, and human rights defenders. The condemnation included the "severe religious persecution" against Catholics as well as "non-recognized" religions such as the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and the Protestant churches.

Ironically, Vietnam is bidding for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council for 2014-2016.

White House Visit

As all eyes and ears are turned to President Obama and Syria, nearly everyone has forgotten Obama's White House meeting in July with Vietnam's President Truong Tan Sang, and the ridiculous utterings of both men. Sang peddled the lie that the communist nation's founder, Ho Chi Minh, was a nationalist inspired by the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson. Sang and the other communist Vietnamese leaders adhere to Joseph Goebbels' "Big Lie" postulate -- people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one, and if you repeat it often enough, people will eventually believe.

Not to be outdone by his communist counterpart, President Obama agreed that the hardcore communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh was inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, as well as the words of Jefferson and our founding fathers. He went on to say that both countries share a mutual admiration for Thomas Jefferson and our founding principles.

Au contraire, mon président. The Vietnamese regime's creator was not Jefferson's God, but Ho Chi Minh himself, an unscrupulous Comintern agent paid by Moscow whose loyalty was only to the World Communist Movement. And our founding principles did not include the murder of tens of thousands our people, as did theirs. Rather than "all men are created equal," Sang's regime is closer to George Orwell's satirical allegory of communism in "Animal Farm," where some animals are much more equal than others.
Michael Benge spent 11 years in Vietnam as a Foreign Service officer and is a student of South East Asian politics. He is very active in advocating for human rights, religious freedom, and democracy for the peoples of the region and has written extensively on these subjects.
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Cambodian Tweets Lead the News

By Luke Hunt, September 18, 2013, The Diplomat

Following the protests in Cambodia from abroad this week was astonishing. On Twitter, Facebook and email, the coverage had immediacy, clarity and a ubiquitous presence that even live television could not compete with, even when seen from Kabul.

From the outset, when protesters began arriving at Freedom Park, the scuffles, tear gas and water cannon – and sadly the death of Mao Sok Chan during a confrontation after the rally had ended – the coverage was slick and on par with great coverage by any wire service in its heyday.

Unfortunately, however, social media geeks who believe the role of iReporter or citizen journalism is a fundamental cornerstone of digital media have gotten it wrong.

What emerged was hundreds of protesters armed with smart phones throwing live accounts onto the Internet where they were disseminated fast by foreign journalists from local and international publications who were not working in unison. Far from it, they were competing for the best line.

Important information about roadblocks, crowd movements, speeches, violence and confrontation were tweeted in one-liners, details and photos were Facebooked, and personal evidence observed that day was emailed privately in a telling and professional manner.

Largely absent were the shrill and sometimes hysterical voices of activists turned civilian reporters or the hardline partisan politicians who like to hear and swamp the Internet with their own pontifications. They were simply sidelined by genuine journalists covering the event.

In short, I didn’t need to see it on CNN or BBC.

But on a much wider front the professionalism that is emerging in the digital era of journalism is a serious challenge for Cambodian authorities whose failure to reconcile themselves with the realities of this generation warrant comparisons with those saintly women of old who disfigured themselves in order to protect their chastity.

In the run-up to the July 28 election, powerful factions within the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) wanted Facebook banned. The same could probably be said for the myriad of social media sites similar to Facebook, if the bureaucratic boffins could just figure out how they work.

There were at least two attempts to block social media websites, but in the end greed won out. Too many business interests with political connections that rely on Facebook and the Internet for income carried the day, much to the unintended delight of those at Sunday’s protest.

Had those responsible for security at the protests been tuned in to the very product many would have banned, they just may have realized that crowds were dispersing by early evening, although the roads were clogged and it was difficult getting home. That was the time to pull the police with loaded guns back to barracks. If they had done so, much of the violence and bloodshed in the evening might have been avoided.

Luke Hunt can be followed on Twitter at @lukeanthonyhunt.
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Stifled Southeast Asian Voices: NGOs Unite Against Criminalization of Free Expression on the Internet

11 September 2013 (FIDH)

As concerns grow in Southeast Asia over the use of national security, anti-terrorist and defamation laws to limit freedom of expression on the Internet, a coalition of international and local NGOs and activists from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia urged governments to stop using vague legislation based on ill-defined concepts such as “national security”, “sovereignty” or “lèse-majesté” to intimidate, harass and imprison independent voices. Speaking at an event in Geneva, which coincides with the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council, FIDH, IFEX, Article 19 and PEN International united to call for the urgent revision of these laws to bring them into line with international human rights standards.

Independent and dissenting voices, including bloggers and netizens, journalists, activists and human rights defenders, have increasingly been subjected to repression in Southeast Asia.

In Vietnam, bloggers and journalists, such as Điếu Cày and Phan Thanh Hải, have been jailed for peacefully advocating for reform, denouncing power abuses and reporting on human rights. The recently adopted Decree 72 banned sharing news stories on social media and quoting news from press agencies. “Vietnam is pursuing the worst ever crack-down on pro-democracy activists and bloggers. At least 48 dissidents were convicted in 2013 alone”, said Vo Van Ai, President of the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, who was sitting as a panelist today.

The Thai authorities have mostly been using the lèse-majesté law (Article 112 of the Criminal Code, which punishes any word or deed which “defames, insults or threatens the King [...]”) and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act to lock up journalists and critics. The most notorious case is that of Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, who was sentenced to ten years in prison for authorizing the publication, as editor, of two articles that were considered insulting to the royal family. Ironically, Somyot was arrested just a few days after launching an online petition calling for a review of Article 112. “In its commitment to cooperate with the UN, Thailand needs to go beyond words, immediately release Somyot and protect the right to freedom of expression of all citizens”, said Somyot’s wife, Sukanya.

The Cambodian government has also taken steps towards seriously limiting the use of the Internet. In 2012, it started drafting a cyber law, whose official aims included preventing “ill-willed people” from “spreading false information”. This draft law has yet to be publicly circulated, and there are serious concerns that it will mirror the restrictive laws within the region. Websites and blogs critical of the government are routinely blocked by Internet service providers on the basis of “instructions” from the government. “I believe in the power of the Internet to spread information and opinions. The Internet should always be free and uncensored”, said Ramana Sorn, Program Coordinator at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and a panelist today.

“Authorities in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia have been manipulating vague, malleable concepts to crack down on dissent and stifle independent voices online. They have done so in complete violation of international law”, said FIDH, IFEX, Article 19 and PEN International. “We call on them to immediately and unconditionally release all bloggers, journalists, activists and human rights defenders detained for peacefully expressing their opinion, and to stop harassment and intimidation of free voices. Everyone has a right to discuss―and challenge―government policies and matters of public interest”.

Background information:

Thailand, despite commitments made during its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2011, has failed to improve its freedom of expression record during its term as Human Rights Council member, which it will complete on 31 December 2013. Vietnam is running as a candidate for membership in the Human Rights Council (2014-2016) and will be reviewed in the framework of the UPR in early 2014, at the same session in which Cambodia will be reviewed.
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Vietnam's social media censorship takes effect

CBC News Posted: Sep 1, 2013

A controversial internet law prohibiting Vietnamese citizens from posting any content online that harms national security or opposes the state took effect Sunday.

The new law, dubbed Decree 72, limits what Vietnamese citizens can post on their online personal pages, including Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

Decree 72 does not elaborate on what constitutes a breach.

The law also demands all foreign websites maintain at least one server in Vietnam, which would give the government greater control of content.

Media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders criticized the decree before it became law, calling it "the harshest offensive against freedom of information" in the country since its prime minister signed a tough round of sanctions against media in 2011.

The organization urged nations to impose heavy sanctions against Vietnam if the country allowed the decree to become law.

Vietnam has been criticized by the United States and leading internet firms like Google and Yahoo! over the controversial internet decree, which it said had been misunderstood and did not breach human rights.

Reporters Without Borders has previously labelled Vietnam an enemy of the internet and ranks the nation 172 out of 179 in its press freedom index. Vietnam jails the second most bloggers and cyber-dissidents, according to the organization — with 35 people currently imprisoned.
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Freedom Online Coalition Joint Statement on the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's Decree 72

Press Statement
Marie Harf
Deputy Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
August 26, 2013

The Freedom Online Coalition is deeply concerned by the announcement of Vietnam’s new Decree 72, which will impose further restrictions on the way the Internet is accessed and used in Vietnam when it comes into effect September 1. For example, Decree 72 restricts online information flow and limits the sharing of certain types of news and other speech. Decree 72 appears to be inconsistent with Vietnam’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as its commitments under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Decree 72 risks harming Vietnam’s economy by constraining the development of businesses in Vietnam, limiting innovation, and deterring foreign investment. An open and free Internet is a necessity for a fully functioning modern economy; regulations such as Decree 72 that limit openness and freedom deprive innovators and businesses of the full set of tools required to compete in today’s global economy.

The Freedom Online Coalition notes that resolution 20/8, adopted by consensus by the UN Human Rights Council in July 2012, confirms that human rights apply online as well as offline. The Freedom Online Coalition calls on the Vietnamese government to revise Decree 72 so that it promotes the ability of individuals to exercise their human rights, including the right to freedom of expression.

The Freedom Online Coalition is a cross-regional group of 21 governments that collaborate to advance Internet freedom worldwide. The Coalition provides a forum for like-minded governments to coordinate efforts and work with civil society and the private sector to support the ability of individuals to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms online.

The Freedom Online Coalition was formed at a conference hosted by the government of the Netherlands in 2011, and held further meetings hosted by Kenya in 2012, and Tunisia in 2013. The government of Estonia, chair of the Coalition, will host the next conference in spring 2014.
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Anthropologist Offers Insight Into Plight of Khmer Krom

By Michelle Vachon - Cambodia Daily August 26,2013

Cambodia Police beating Khmer Krom Monks in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2007

During their ongoing war against Vietnam in the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge attacked the Vietnamese province of An Giang along the border and brought back to Cambodia about 20,000 people from Vietnam’s Khmer minority known as Khmer Krom.

This mass migration, which mainly took place in 1977 and 1978, remains one of the untold stories of the Pol Pot regime, said Australian anthropologist Philip Taylor on Sunday.

Was this operation meant as territorial expansion, another assault against Vietnam or a rescue mission of Khmer brothers?

Actually, it was none of the above, according to Mr. Taylor.

“This was a case of mass abduction [by a regime] striving to control,” he said.

At the time, there were around 100,000 Khmer Krom in that province, and the Khmer Rouge did not want to let such a large Khmer population—and one living along the Cambodian border—be autonomous, Mr. Tay­lor said.

In addition, the Khmer Rouge needed workers in their forced-labor camps where tens of thousands of Cambodians had already died of starvation and ill treatment, he added.

So the Khmer Rouge brought Khmer Krom to Cambodia and put them to work, treating them as “non-pure Khmer” always suspected of Vietnamese sympathy because of their origins, he said.

Mr. Taylor, who has been researching the Khmer Krom for nearly 15 years, will give a lecture at Meta House on Tuesday on the Khmer Rouge’s forceful importation of the Khmer Krom.

A research fellow with the Australian National University in Canberra, he is working on a book about the effects of Cambodia’s conflicts of the 1970s and 1980s on Vietnam’s Khmer minority, effects that continue to this day. The conference is organized by the social-science network Human Sciences Encounters in Phnom Penh.

Mr. Taylor has interviewed thousands of Khmer Krom during his numerous visits to Vietnam and the five years he lived in the Mekong Delta. In addition, he spoke to 100 Khmer Krom from An Giang province who had direct experiences of the Khmer Rouge “mass importation,” and discussed the era with both Khmer Krom and Vietnamese officials.

What emerges from his research, Mr. Taylor said, is that the Khmer Krom had been under suspicion on both sides of the border.

While some Khmer Krom may have supported the Khmer Rouge, many who were brought to Cambodia did so against their will, he said.

But when they returned to An Giang province after the 1979 Khmer Rouge defeat at the hands of Cambodian and Vietnamese forces, the Viet­nam­ese authorities mainly viewed them as Khmer Rouge fleeing Cambodia, and therefore enemies of Vietnam, Mr. Taylor said.

The biggest reprisals came from the Vietnamese population that recalled the Khmer Rouge massacres of Vietnamese villages: They made it difficult for returning Khmer Krom to claim their rights to residency and the land they had previously owned, he said.

In the meantime in Cambodia, the Khmer Krom have often had their Khmer identity questioned, and have faced discrimination, Mr. Taylor said.

“In my extensive travel around the Mekong Delta, I found that the Khmer Krom had suffered not only at the hands of the Vietnamese state but also at the hands of the Cambodian state.”

Mr. Taylor’s conference will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
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Cambodia’s Top Court Says Key Election Records Open for Review

RFA - August 22,2013

Cambodia’s election authorities may be ordered to check key voting data to investigate opposition claims of widespread election irregularities in recent national polls, the country’s highest court ruled Thursday.

The Constitutional Council also said that it could hold public hearings on the hotly-contested July 28 election that has resulted in a political deadlock and tensions in the capital.

The court made the statement as it reviewed complaints against preliminary results released by the National Election Committee (NEC) giving Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) a victory.

The results have been challenged by the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) which claims massive election irregularities, including one million voters delisted from the electoral rolls.

Security packages

The Constitutional Council said in a statement that it could call for sealed packages containing original tally sheets collected from polling stations on election day to be opened, in order to allow results returned later in the vote-counting process to be checked against the primary data.

The NEC has rejected complaints by the CNRP and said it would not open the security packages without solid evidence of serious irregularities.

The Constitutional Council, which is the final arbiter of the contested election results, said that based on the Election Law, it “can order the NEC to open security packages in order to verify votes,” according to the statement.

The CNRP has called for U.N.-backed investigation into irregularities and a full investigation into voting data, saying the CPP and NEC colluded to deny votes for the CNRP.

Ensuring safety

CNRP President Sam Rainsy called on the NEC ensure that Security Package A, which contains original documents from election day including voided ballots, is kept safe in case it needs to be checked.

“Please take measures to keep the package in a safe place in order to avoid any changes to the original documents,” he said in a letter to NEC President Im Sousdey.

“The package is evidence that can be used to verify the election results and could affect the election results and the sharing of National Assembly Seats,” he said.

NEC Secretary General Tep Nytha said the packages are well guarded.

“This is the NEC’s job and we have taken good care of those packages,” he told RFA’s Khmer Service.

Review of complaints

Preliminary results by the NEC support the CPP claim that it had won 68 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly, against 55 for the CNRP. The CNRP maintains it won at least 63 seats.

The Constitutional Council, which began reviewing complaints on Monday, said Thursday that it has already addressed 24 out of 39 complaints it received in total, including complaints about voter rolls and violations of campaign rules.

The 15 remaining complaints it is examining now are related to the preliminary results, the court’s statement said.

Public hearings

“The Constitutional Council may have public hearings in the future,” the statement said following criticism this week that hearings so far have been closed to reporters.

The CNRP and election watchdog groups have called for greater transparency on the review proceedings at the court.

Tensions remain high amid the election dispute with Sam Rainsy warning of mass protests against the NEC’s handling of the poll results and the government responding with an increased military presence in the capital.

Sam Rainsy has called for his supporters to rally in Phnom Penh on Monday.

Authorities have deployed troops, tanks, and armored vehicles in the capital, prompting concerns about a possibly violent showdown

Demonstrators have held peace marches in the city calling for both parties to resolve the election impasse without violence.

Mu Sochua in clash with police

Northwest of Phnom Penh in Battambang city, provincial police clashed with CNRP supporters and local residents on Thursday outside an election forum organized by a rights group.

Senior CNRP member Mu Sochua was ruffled in the melee as police lines surrounded the compound to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) meeting, blocking local residents from entering.

Mu Sochua was forcibly pushed against a concrete wall while she was trying to help a local resident push through police lines.

“I am very disappointed with the Battambang authorities,” she told RFA, saying that her body hurt and that police were under pressure from the CPP to intimidate local residents into staying away from the forum.

“Those [participating in the forum] love peace but police surrounded their houses and prevented residents from participating,” she said.

Some local residents succeeded in pushing through the police line and participated in the forum under heavy police presence.

Battambang Police Chief Sor Thet said that he had sent police to ensure security and public order for the villagers at the forum, rejecting claims that police had assaulted Mu Sochua.

“Residents posted comments on Facebook saying that police in Battambang abused them, but we didn’t do that,” he told RFA.
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New Vietnamese Party Vows to Challenge Dominant Communist Rule

RFA August 19,2013

A veteran member of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam is spearheading efforts to form a new party to challenge the government by attracting support from members disgruntled by a slowing economy and concerned over Chinese territorial encroachment.

The Social Democratic Party founded last week by Le Hieu Dang, a leading dissident and 45-year Communist Party member, aims to establish multiparty rule and “build a true democracy,” its leaders said, vowing to confront the government despite the risk of arrest.

Hundreds of Communist Party members have already decided to leave the Communist Party to join the new party, according to a statement by the Social Democratic Party, whose founding follows rare public debate this year on the need for constitutional amendments allowing multiparty rule.

The Communist Party’s monopoly on power is enshrined in the constitution, and the formation of other parties is banned. Questioning Communist Party rule is considered a serious crime in Vietnam and dozens of activists and netizens have been arrested this year for anti-state activities.

Dang, a civil rights lawyer, said he had founded the Social Democratic Party because Vietnam is facing a “critical time,” adding that reforms are needed if the country is to continue its social and economic progress.

“The reason behind having a new party coexisting with the Communist Party is that for any development of society we always need different opinions,” he told RFA’s Vietnamese Service Monday.

“Society can’t develop if there is only one opinion, one ruling party.”

A rival to the Communist Party is needed to challenge its policies on economic reforms and ties with China, he said, referring to Hanoi’s territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea and what he termed excessive Chinese investments on land in Vietnam’s resource-rich Central Highlands.

“Our social and economic situation is getting worse. There are concerns about our economy and education,” he said.

The Communist Party, which has based its grassroots support on rapid economic growth over the past decades, has been battered in recent years by a series of high-level corruption scandals in state-owned enterprises.

'Ready for any attack'

Despite possible dangers of repercussions, the Social Democratic Party intends to operate “legally, not in secret,” Dang said.

Cofounder Ho Ngoc Nhuan, the former vice-chair of the party-backed Vietnam Fatherland Front’s Ho Chi Minh City unit, said in a statement announcing the organization’s establishment that members are prepared to face the consequences of challenging the ruling party.

“We are ready for any attack,” he said in the Aug. 15 statement which was circulated online, urging young people to join.

“Don’t have any reservations; don’t be scared of being arrested or mistreated,” he said.

'Betrayed' by the Communist Party

The party is counting on garnering the support of longtime Communist Party members who feel disappointed in its authoritarian rule, he told RFA.

“They are angry. They have fought for the country and for the people all their lives and now they feel betrayed.”

The Social Democratic Party is committed to nonviolence and does not intend to “ruin” the Communist Party, but rather “talk to them as equals,” he said.

Its establishment follows a proposal for multiparty rule made in January in a draft constitution signed by 72 Vietnamese intellectuals and activists including Dang, Nhuan, and other longtime Communist Party members as well as government officials.

The proposed draft, an alternative to a government version that upheld protections for Communist Party’s rule enshrined in the constitution, garnered thousands of signatures of support after it was circulated online.

Journalist Nguyen Dac Kien was fired by his state-run newspaper after he blogged about an attack by the Communist Party chief on those calling for greater constitutional reforms.

Many members of Bloc 8406, a coalition of activist groups that in 2006 wrote an online manifesto calling for multiparty rule, have faced arrest.

Reported by Mac Lam and An Nguyen for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
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Pakistan: Musharraf Charged In Bhutto Death

By SkyNews August 20,2013

Dictator Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been charged over the 2007 murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

"He was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder and facilitation for murder," said public prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar.

Musharraf appeared briefly at the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, where he denied the charges.

He has been under house arrest near Islamabad since April 19, but appeared before the court in person.

"The charges were read out to him in the court. He denied the charges," said Mr Azhar.

Musharraf's legal team has dismissed the indictment.

"These charges are baseless. We are not afraid of the proceedings. We will follow legal procedures in the court," his lawyer Syeda Afshan Adil said.

Scores of security forces guarded the area around the court in Rawalpindi, the city where Bhutto was killed on December 27, 2007, and roads were sealed off for Musharraf's appearance.

The indictment follows lingering speculation about the possibility of a behind-the-scenes deal that could allow Musharraf to leave Pakistan without facing the courts and embarrassing the military.

Bhutto, twice elected prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack after campaigning for elections that were won by her Pakistan People's Party in February 2008.

There was no public claim of responsibility for her murder.

Musharraf's government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement.

He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.

The Bhutto case is one in a series of court battles that Musharraf has faced over allegations dating back to his 1999-2008 rule, since he returned in March from four years of self-imposed exile.

The new government headed by Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf deposed in 1999, has said he should stand trial for treason for subverting the constitution and has appointed a committee to investigate him.

The offence carries the death penalty or life imprisonment.

The case has been adjourned until August 27.
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CPP Threatens Legal Action Against CNRP

Cambodia Daily - By Matt Blomberg and Neou Vannarin - August 21, 2013

Left: Mr. Sam Rainsy--Leader of CNRP
Right: Dictator Hun Sen--Loser of CPP and Hanoi-puppet

The CPP on Tuesday threatened legal action against the CNRP if it did not cease its “defamatory rhetoric” regarding the ruling party’s relationship with the National Election Committee (NEC), which the opposition accuses of rigging July’s election in order to keep the CPP in power.

The CPP on Monday released a statement rejecting accusations of collusion with the NEC, and Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said Tuesday that there were legal avenues the ruling party could take in order to silence the CNRP.

“Everyone has their limits and we need the CNRP to know what our limits are—we can’t accept these defamatory, discrediting accusations anymore,” Mr. Siphan said.

“We respect freedom of expression but this is not freedom of ex­pression. There are laws in place to protect organizations against such defamatory rhetoric. Legal action may be taken.”

Monday’s CPP statement came a week after negotiations between the rival parties to form a subcommittee to investigate polling day complaints faltered, with the CPP and CNRP unable to agree on the NEC’s role in such a committee.

“Accusations which claim the Cambodian People’s Party colluded with the National Election Committee to cheat for votes are groundless accusations intended to create public confusion in relation to the election process in Cambodia,” the statement reads. “[The] CPP would like to strongly deny those accusations.”

The CNRP has repeatedly called for an independent investigation into reports of widespread electoral irregularities, saying that the NEC is a tool of the ruling party—concerns that have also been voiced by the U.N. human rights special rapporteur to Cambodia, Surya Subedi, and the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann on Tuesday reiterated the opposition’s doubts over the NEC’s impartiality and questioned Mr. Siphan’s threat of legal action.

“It’s for the whole world to see—the NEC is systematically appointed by the CPP,” he said. “The voters know it, the U.N. knows it and the international community knows it.”
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Vietnam caught between a rock and a hard place

YaleGlobal August 9, 2013 by David Brown

Is disappointment with China the reason behind Vietnam president's recent hurried visit to Washington?

Early in June, US State Department officials told a Congressional sub-committee that closer ties with Vietnam, in particular weapons sales, are on hold until there is "continued, demonstrable, sustained improvement in the human rights situation". The officials put on the public record a message that US diplomats have been delivering privately for a couple of years. Their testimony largely went unnoticed except by the online media that stoke the fires of dissidence in Vietnam.

Coincidentally, Vietnamese police arrested yet another blogger on June 13, charging Pham Viet Dao with "abusing his right of free speech to undermine the interests of the State". Over 40 dissidents have been jailed this year, twice the pace of 2012. Moreover, there's evidence that the cyber-security arm of Vietnam's police has deployed FinFisher surveillance technology - made by UK-based Gamma International - to plant spy software in computers and smartphones of people who access dissident blogs.

Hanoi has not welcomed American comments on human rights issues. Party stalwarts gag on demands that Vietnam allow greater democratic freedoms, fearing that Washington's true objective is to bring down the regime.

The crackdown on bloggers seemed to manifest a regime tilt toward China, the bEte noire of Vietnam's dissidents. For years, dissident bloggers have flayed the regime for, they say, its failure to defend Vietnam's interests against its giant neighbour. Exhibit A: China's step-by-step solidification of a claim to "indisputable sovereignty" over most of the South China Sea, including waters off Vietnam's coast.

Vietnam's naval and air forces, though not insignificant, are no match for China's. Rather than risk clashes over disputed rocks and reefs - and possible oil and gas deposits - Vietnam's rulers have sought to brake Chinese aggression by rallying the support of ASEAN partners and by forging "strategic relationships" with the US and other extra-regional powers. The results of these diplomatic efforts have been modest. Asean's 10 members have jawed on about "centrality" in regional matters, but failed to establish a common front with respect to China's sweeping territorial claims.

Meanwhile, wary of being manoeuvred into defending Vietnamese or Filipino islets, the US has insisted that it "does not take sides" on territorial disputes. Worried also that the rising superpower will retaliate in other areas, Washington and most ASEAN capitals have shied away from direct challenge to Beijing's quest for hegemony over waters lying between Hong Kong and Singapore.

Beijing's claims are based on records of visits by fishermen centuries ago. In contrast, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam rely on the UN Charter on the Law of the Sea and other international law. Policy shepherds in Washington agree that the thicket of claims must be untangled by reference to those legal precepts. But this stance is undermined by repeated US failures to ratify UNCLOS and the failure of the four ASEAN frontline states to sort out conflicting claims among themselves. The stance offers no clue to Washington's course if Beijing continues to nibble its way toward a fait accompli.

As tensions have risen, non-Communist Vietnamese and a significant faction within the Communist Party have urged a de facto economic and military alliance with the US. There's been progress toward Vietnam's membership in the projected US-led Trans-Pacific economic partnership. Although many party leaders remain sceptical of US intentions, in the last four years there's been remarkable expansion of consultations with the US armed forces. In June, for example, senior members of Vietnam's general staff toured US bases.

Until recently, that sort of military-to-military dalliance, designed to signal to Beijing that Hanoi has options, seemed to have hit its natural limits - friendly visits and a bit of training in non-combat activities like search-and-rescue. A year ago Vietnam rejected former US secretary of defence Leon Panetta's proposal that it host rotations of US troops and warships.

Again this spring, Beijing flexed its maritime muscles. Uncharacteristically, Hanoi hardly reacted. In May, it registered complaints about rough treatment dealt to Vietnamese fishermen and denied a PetroVietnam report that Chinese vessels had harassed one of the state oil company's survey ships. Why became clear on June 14, when Hanoi announced that Vietnam's President Truong Tan Sang would pay a state visit to China.

Sang's trip, the first by a top Vietnamese leader since Xi Jinping was installed as China's president in March, was loaded with ritual and meaning accrued over a millennium of such missions. The Vietnamese are justly proud of a tradition of successful resistance to invading Chinese armies. Also throughout their history, they've often induced China to respect Vietnam's autonomy by projecting deference. Hanoi was kowtowing vigorously.

The orchestration of Sang's visit suggests that, notwithstanding frictions, Vietnam's leaders remain hopeful that China's leaders will not betray a ruling party so like their own. There was the usual heavy stress on the two countries' "comprehensive strategic relationship". Signatures were affixed to a sheaf of routine agreements.

Other than an earful of admonition, Sang appears to have taken little home from Beijing. Xi promised that China would "actively take effective and drastic measures" to narrow a $16 billion imbalance in bilateral trade flows. Such promises have been made before to no great effect. On the South China Sea, Sang had nothing to show but agreement on a hotline to discuss incidents involving fishermen. By rejecting mention of UNCLOS, to which both nations are signatories, and other prescriptions of international law as the foundation of a territorial settlement, Beijing stepped back from assurances it gave Vietnam 20 months ago when Hanoi agreed to bilateral negotiation of claims to the Paracels, islets that China wrested from South Vietnam in 1974. Those talks haven't made progress. Conceding as much, Xi and Sang agreed that they'd be intensified.

The Politburo's subsequent decision to send Sang to Washington on July 25 suggests that Vietnam's leaders have been shaken by what Xi and his colleagues told Sang in private, and are ready to deal with the US on a more intimate defence relationship. A leading dissident was to go to trial on the day before Sang's pending trip was announced; that trial has been indefinitely postponed. Vietnam's leaders may hope President Barack Obama will settle for such cosmetic gestures. If so, they are likely mistaken.

As the administration acknowledged to Congress last month, "the American people will not support a dramatic upgrading of bilateral ties without demonstrable progress on human rights". In fact, the US does not need a more robust military tie with Vietnam to defend its interests in the South China Sea. It can afford to take the long view and surprise cynics by standing firm on human rights. With Vietnam War veterans John Kerry and Chuck Hagel now supervising US foreign and defence policy, that may be exactly what the US will do.

David Brown is a freelance journalist and retired US diplomat who worked in Vietnam for many years.
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US criticizes Vietnam new Internet control decree

August 6,2013

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) The United States joined global Internet giants Google and Facebook on Tuesday in criticizing a new decree in Vietnam that further curbs online free speech and forces foreign companies to keep servers inside the country.

The Internet has emerged as a major avenue of dissent in Vietnam, alarming conservative elements in the Communist government. Authorities want to stifle dissent, but must balance this with the reality that a free Internet is important to maintaining economic growth and attracting investment.

It issued Decree 72 last month, prohibiting the posting of material that "opposes" the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and "harms national security" and other vague terms. The decree cements an ongoing crackdown: Many of the 46 people convicted this year under other laws banning dissent were bloggers.

U.S. officials in Hanoi, as well as large multinational Internet companies, lobbied the government during the drafting process. Some of the more draconian elements were dropped, but the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi made it clear that it was disappointed with the final version.

"Fundamental freedoms apply online just as they do offline," the embassy said in a statement. "We are deeply concerned by the decree's provisions that appear to limit the types of information individuals can share via personal social media accounts and on websites."

Google and other Internet companies have been seeking to expand their business in Vietnam, which has a rapidly growing Internet sector, but are wary about having to cooperate with censorship requests and give up users' personal information to authorities.

The decree stipulates that foreign companies have to keep at least server inside the country, a move that gives the government some control over their activities. But this increases costs for multinational seeking to expand in Asia, effectively functioning as barrier to enter the market.

"We believe that the decree will negatively affect Vietnam's Internet ecosystem," said the Asia Internet Coalition, an industry grouping representing Google, Facebook and other Internet companies. "In the long term, the decree will stifle innovation and discourage businesses from operating in Vietnam."

It remains to be seen how much of the decree, which comes into effect on September 1, will be enforced.

Google and Facebook are currently the dominant players in the search and social sectors of the Internet market in Vietnam. They don't have offices inside the country, but are able to market their products. The government wasn't immediately available for comment.
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Vietnam human rights bill approved by U.S. House of Representatives

Source: Baptist Press, August 5,2013

WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. House of Representatives has approved nearly unanimously a bill designed to advance religious freedom and other human rights in Vietnam.

In a 405-3 roll call Aug. 1, the House approved the Vietnam Human Rights Act, H.R. 1897, which will prohibit any increase in non-humanitarian U.S. aid to the Southeast Asian country if its government does not make significant progress in promoting human rights. The Senate has yet to act on the proposal.

Among its goals, the bill seeks to end religious abuses and return confiscated property to churches and religious communities.

The legislation also expresses the sense of Congress that the State Department should re-designate Vietnam as a "country of particular concern," a classification reserved for the world's worst violators of religious freedom.

The bill's purpose is "to send a clear, strong, and compelling message to the increasingly repressive communist regime in power in Vietnam that says that the United States is serious about combating human rights abuse" in that country, said Rep. Chris Smith, R.-N.J., in a written statement. Smith is the bill's House sponsor.

Protestants, Catholics, Buddhists and adherents of other faiths face government abuse, Smith said. Government officials have jailed journalists and have been complicit in human trafficking, Smith said.

The House-approved bill says the Vietnamese government "continues to limit the freedom of religion, restrict the operations of independent religious organizations, and persecute believers whose religious activities the Government regards as a potential threat to its monopoly on power."

According to the legislation, "unregistered ethnic minority Protestant congregations, particularly Montagnards in the Central and Northwest Highlands, suffer severe abuses because of actions by the Government of Vietnam, which have included forced renunciations of faith, arrest and harassment, the withholding of social programs provided for the general population, confiscation and destruction of property, subjection to severe beatings, and reported deaths."

The only representatives to vote against the bill were Republicans Paul Broun of Georgia and Walter Jones of North Carolina, as well as Democrat Gregory Meeks of New York.

The House vote followed by a week a July 25 state visit to Washington by Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang. In a joint news conference, President Obama said they "had a very candid conversation about both the progress Vietnam has made and the challenges that remain."

In a statement released later, the White House noted "narrow differences" between the two countries on the issue of human rights, but a statement in Nhan Dan, the official newspaper of Vietnam's Communist Party, claimed the differences were "many and significant."
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Compiled by Baptist Press Washington bureau chief Tom Strode. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).
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