SPEAKING
FREELY Fight for the right to choose in
Vietnam By Diem H Do
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For many months, the
ruling Communist Party in Vietnam had been
promoting the National Assembly election that was
held on Sunday as a sign that the Southeast Asian
country is opening up
quickly. With up to 10% of the
500 seats offered to non-communist candidates, the
one-party dictatorship tried hard to bill this
election as a sign of gradual democratic reform.
Notably, this was not the first time the
party had offered seats in the legislature to
independent candidates. However, the real trick
was in the selection process for these independent
candidates by the Communist Party. Although
technically anybody could run, candidates first
had to be selected before they even had the chance
to be on the ballot. This selection process was
controlled entirely by the Communist Party. Thus
the party in essence decided from the start who
could run or should be eliminated.
Once
candidates were selected to be on the ballot,
whether they won or not was a different matter,
because the party controlled the entire balloting
process. Since elections in Vietnam have never
been independently monitored, election officials
and workers are overwhelmingly Communist Party
members. And because there are no opposition
parties providing the necessary checks and
balances, the ruling party was completely free to
decide unilaterally the outcome of this election.
It will be days before the "official"
results are known. But even with 10% of the
500-seat National Assembly consisting of so-called
"independent" members, with 90% of the legislature
under communist control, calling this democratic
reform is a farce. For months, the democracy
movement in Vietnam called for a boycott of this
election. The Communist Party retaliated by
launching the worst crackdown in the past 20 years
against peaceful dissent.
One after
another, democracy activists were sentenced to
years in prison simply because they advocated
giving people the right to choose freely and
fairly. It is a mockery of justice when a dozen
activists are sent to prison on fabricated charges
of "spreading propaganda against the government".
Others are still awaiting trial, accused of
"plotting to overthrow the government", a charge
that carries the maximum penalty of death.
All of this comes at a time when the
Vietnamese communist government has been embraced
by the international community as the guiding
force behind a fast-growing and stable economy.
But the world must not forget that this is a
regime that is extremely corrupt and does not
truly represent the Vietnamese people. The regime
stays in power by terrorizing its own citizens and
through fraudulent elections like the one on
Sunday in which it farcically claimed a 99%
turnout.
For many years, the Vietnamese
democracy movement has waged a grassroots and
peaceful campaign to end the Communist Party
dictatorship. The goal is simply to give the
Vietnamese people a chance to choose their own
government freely and fairly.
It is easy
for the world to get caught up in the debate of a
market economy versus a centrally planned one, or
the conflict between business interests versus
human rights. But the crux of the matter for
Vietnam's 85 million citizens is the right to
choose their own destiny, free from fear or
intimidation.
And for that, instead of
embracing a corrupt dictatorship, the
international community should do the right thing:
stand alongside the Vietnamese people and fight
for the right to choose freely.
Diem
H Do is chairman of Viet Tan
(www.viettan.org), a political party aiming to
achieve democracy in Vietnam through peaceful
means.
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about sales, syndication and republishing.)
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
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