Vietnam has become the land of

The Vietnam War ended in April 1975. Thirty-two years later, two significant changes in this communist country are apparent:

1. Marxism-Leninism’s ‘economic collectivism and class struggle’ has been replaced with the capitalist ideology of a free-market system and private ownership.

2. Marxism-Leninism’s ‘proletarian dictatorship’has been transformed into a totalitarianism of “red capitalists” billionaires who have seized the reins of power over the country.

While the Vietnamese communist (VC) cadres and their families live in luxury, tens of millions of Vietnamese live in poverty and oppression. Corruption at all levels and "jungle law" are critical problems.

During the period between 1960 and 1975, Vietnam became known as the “Hot Point” of the Cold War. On one side was the Soviet Union, communist China, the VC as well as other underlings of Moscow. On the other side stood the U.S., the Republic of VN (South VN) and their allies. Regretfully, the Vietnam War ended with victory for the ‘Third Communist International’ in 1975. (1)

Today, Vietnam is still being enslaved by the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), Ho Chi Minh’s (HCM) “red tyranny organization”. The VCP claim that their actions are for the ‘People’. But in reality, their motivation is better described as “of the VCP, by the VCP and for the VCP”. All media, religion, and associations are under control of VC cadres. VC authorities controlled people by means of ‘Sổ Hộ Khẩu’ -- a “certificate of household” that allows the police to keep track of all inhabitants’ activities.

It has been 32 years since South Vietnam fell into communist regime, but the heartrending memories of bloodshed and other tragedies during the war have barely faded in the memories of millions of Vietnamese. Vietnamese-Americans, many who became refugees after the war, are still moved to tears when they speak about the loss of their loved ones during their escape from the communist regime.

“I still grieve over those we were unable to rescue”, utteredformer President Gerald Ford at a public forum --- 25 years after the fall of South Vietnam. He also wrote in a letter to the U.S. Marine Corps:

In contrast, the VC annually celebrates April 30^th as the day of South Vietnam's ‘liberation’. Without any reference to the demise of Communism or the immense sufferings of the Vietnamese people during the war, the VC regime maintains exhibition centers which display “fabricated pictures” and other “evidence” that depict the ‘atrocities of American imperialists and their puppet government’. Moreover, their TV and radio stations,and online newspapers habituallyextol the so-called ‘glorious achievements’ of Chairman HCM and his VCP. (3)

Contrary to the propaganda about HCM that were fabricated and disseminated by the VCP, the history of Vietnam (1945-1975) reveals HCM to be one of the biggest traitors, committing enormous atrocities to the Vietnamese people. HCM was single-handedly responsible for the imposition of communist rule over the North and later, South Vietnam.

However, the so called achievements of HCM and his VCP was not for independence of Vietnam, but rather, to implement the cunning plot of the Soviet Union --- the Red Empire --- to control Vietnam under the label ‘Third Communist International’. Several letters of HCM, which are in the VCP’s archives, indicate that HCM had been a salaried agent of the ‘Third Communist International’ since the early 1920s. He once boastfully proclaimed that he successfully accomplished the Soviet Union’s ‘revolutionary task’ to expand communism in Vietnam. It was the chief cause of the bloodiest and longest war from 1945 to 1975, codenamed ‘Anti French Colonists’; and ‘Oppose America, Save the Country’. Consequently, Vietnam could have never been considered an independent country while it was under control of Ho Chi Minh, a Soviet puppet who obediently followed the orders of his master. (4) (5) (6)

The communist expansion into Vietnam during the war left an enormous human toll numbering four to five million deaths and hundreds of thousands of handicaps. This estimate does not even include the deaths of tens of thousands of former South Vietnamese soldiers in the VC’s education camps after 1975.

In addition, during the four years of ‘Land Reform Campaign’ (1952-1956) in North Vietnam and the three years of ‘Eradicating Private Ownership Campaign’ in South Vietnam (1975-1978), HCM and his VCP systematically targeted land owners, the affluent, the bourgeoisie, and intellectuals who refused to follow the Marxism-Leninism’s line. Their properties were confiscated and an estimate of 1.5 million were tortured, imprisoned, or sentenced to death by communist “kangaroo courts”. (7) (8)

In October 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution -- the murderous Russian coup-d'etat -- birthed the deadliest mass killing force ever visited upon the human race: Communism. In less than 100 years, Communism has claimed more than 100 million lives. Today, it continues to enslave one-fifth of the world's people.

Not only did the ‘economic collectivism and class struggle’ impoverish the people but it also caused millions of Vietnamese to flee their homeland. Between 1975-1987, three million refugees --- most of them “boat people” --- “voted with their feet” to escape communist rule and risked their lives on the high seas where they faced a host of perils including typhoons, starvation, and dehydration. Because they had only crudely constructed boats to cross the Pacific Ocean, an estimate of one million "boat people" perished in their escape to freedom. In just a few months in 1979, thousands of refugees perished and hundreds of young woman and children were kidnapped, raped and murdered by brutal Thai pirates. (10)

The world was in shock as thousands of refugees lost their lives. Many people had tears in their eyes as they viewed the heartrending sights on TV. The U.N. responded by hurriedly appealing for help to stop the mass suffering and misery.

In contrast to the rest of the word’s charity and magnanimity, the VC regime cold-heartedly not only turned their back on their victims, but also slandered and insulted them in their newspapers and radio and TV stations. “They are gangsters, whores, thieves.... dregs of Vietnam society who run away.... to follow behind American imperialists”, proclaimed Pham Van Dong, the VC Prime Minister (1976-1987).

However, the achievements of many refugees became apparent during the early 1990s and proved that they were honest, industrious and intelligent people. Tens of thousands of refugees in the U.S., for example, worked hard and quickly assimilated into the American community. Within just a few decades, they had already become homeowners, business owners, and politicians. More importantly, many of the younger refugees achieved advanced degrees to become doctors, professors, scientists and other professionals. Realizing that thousands of Viet refugees now had pockets full of American dollars, the VC has since made an about-face with their attitude and has started to call the refugees ‘khuc ruot xa ngan dam’ [flesh-and-blood relatives, though thousands of milesfar away].

Because the VC needed money to bolster their police force, military, communist cadres, media network, and Politburo’s resolutions, they conveniently ‘forgot’ that just a few years ago, they had propagated slander and libel against the refugees they were now courting. The VC was hoping that they could increase their economy and initiate remittances via tourism, business ventures, and home purchases. These blatant subterfuge reflect the true character of the VC regime which is always “sweet on the outside, but vicious on the inside”.

In the mid-1980s, to recover its economic crisis and to prevent its regime from collapse, the VC also made an economic about-face and turned its back on communist ideology to embrace the free-market system and private ownership of Capitalism. As a consequence, Vietnam’s economy has strengthened and grown. Ironically, instead of admitting that Communist economic ideology led to persistent poverty throughout the county, the VC regime praised itself for what they called a ‘successful achievement of rennovation’.

Since there was, as VCP maintains, a ‘change in economy but not change for color in politic’, Marxism-Leninism ‘proletarian dictatorship’has been transformed into a “totalitarianism of red capitalist”. These “red capitalists” consists of high-ranking officials in the VC regime, particularlythe VCP’s Politburo. On the list of nearly 200 “Red Capitalists” include billionaires Nong Duc Manh, Nguyen Tan Dung, Phan Van Khai, Le Duc Anh, Tran Duc Luong, Do Muoi, Le Kha Phieu and Vo Van Kiet. Not so long ago, all these “red capitalists” were members of the ‘Proletarian class’, the lowest socioeconomic class in Vietnam.Poverty was a requisite to qualify for membership in the VCP. How could they so rapidly become billionaires if they did not accept bribes or embezzle public funds? (11)

In the meantime, the communist guiding principle of ‘red is better than professional’ --- prevailed. As a result, Vietnam today hascountless“judges” who neither has a high school education nor is knowledgable of the law. Their judgments are guided only by VCP’s orders and bribes. Jungle law was an inevitable consequence, which convicted countless innocent victims in their “kangaroo courts”.

In the past five years, numerous Vietnamese citizens have become “red victims”, experiencing first hand, the oppression by the VC regime.While it is detailed in Article 69 of the VC Constitution that ‘The citizen shall enjoy freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of the press’, in reality, no such freedom is allowed under the VC regime. (12A)

Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, a Roman Catholic priest and a pro-democracy activist experienced the realities of living under the VC regime. After declaring “Freedom of religion or die” in 2001, he was punished and imprisoned for years. In March 2007, along with four other individuals, he went on trial for ‘spreading propaganda against the state’. In the “kangaroo courtroom”, the defendants had no legal representation and were not allowed to present a defense. The photo on website www.tdngonluan.com depicts the well-muscled hands of a VC security man gagging Father Nguyen (12B). Father Nguyen was never allowed to raise his voice for justice. That photo is representative of the brutality of the VC regime and the obstruction of justice in the “kangaroo courts”.

Another example of the realities of the VC government is of, Le Chi Quang, a pro-democracy activist who was arrested in Hanoi on Feb 21^st, 2002 for writing and distributing on the internet an article critical of Communist China, “Beware of Imperialist China”. Eight months later, he was forced to Ha Noi’s “kangaroo court” and found guilty of ‘disseminating propaganda against the Socialist State’. Hereceiveda four-year prison term and three years of house arrest.

According to Nguyen Thanh Giang's report, Quang was interrogated at a police station in Dong Da district for his activities ‘concerning national security’. Three VC agents took turns to interrogate Quang for three consecutive hours. At the end of the session, a quarrel occurred. (13)

“I release you because you are too feeble [Quang was suffering from chronic glomerulonephritis]. Otherwise, I would put you into prison. However, I forbid you to go outside your house,” said an agent, named Tam.

Le Chi Quang is only one of many pro-democracy activists who have been targeted in the past few years. Dr Pham Hong Son received a 13-year prison sentence for his so-called acts of ‘espionage’ in which he simply translated the article “The Promotion of Democracy” into Vietnamese and posted it on-line.

Even after the VC regime was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2006, pro-democracy activists were still being arrested and imprisoned. Among them, the novelist, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, and lawyers, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan. Le Quoc Quan, a human rights activist, was abducted in March of 2007 by the VC secret police after returning to Vietnam from his stay in the United States as a fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy.

"We just gave this government, this evil government, [Permanent Normal Trade Relations], and now look and see what they are doing," Frank Wolf said. "Where is the Bush administration on this issue? The Secretary [of State] and the Assistant Secretary ought to be speaking out."

"Because the Communist government of Vietnam is acting like a Communist government, it should be of no surprise to all of us," said Dana Rohrabacher."Gangsters act like gangsters, which the Vietnamese government is again reaffirming for us today." (14)

Unfortunately, many people are not aware of VC’s jungle law “Freedom of speech” under the VC regime only extends to the extolments of HCM and his VCP; criticism is not allowed. Any one who speaks out against HCM or recounts the communist crimes are convicted for “propaganda against the Socialist State”. The following is a sample of individuals’ stories that learned of VC’s jungle law all too well:

1- Lisa Pham and three Truong brothers were arrested last year in Vietnam for conspiring to organize a “coup d’etat” because they had stated their opinions on an online forum, PalTalk.com. (15)

2- The experience of another Vietnamese-American, Nguyen Dinh Hoan, is representative of the difficulties of doing business under the VC regime. Hoan, the General Director of an international school in Ha Noi, was arrested on the charges of ‘embezzlement’. Yen, Hoan’s wife, who lives in Potomac, had raised the $85,000 required to bail her husband out from the VC detention center outside Hanoi. But a month passed and VC authorities informed the U.S. Embassy that they would not release Hoan. Yen's attorney in Hanoi told her that, if she could pay an additional $250,000, her husband would be released. But Yen could not and replied that she didn’t “have that kind of money”. (16)

"He doesn't know the jungle law,” she said. "They can use the jungle law to do anything to you", said Nguyen Yen. Many people view this as “a blackmail scandal” of VC officials.

While in both instances, they are American citizens, the government considers them ‘Vietnamese citizens’ and therefore under the subjugation of the VC regime. In fact, the VC regime dictates that all former Viet refugees and their descendants are ‘Vietnam citizens’, despitethe fact that they had become refugees after rejecting the VC regime. Viet refugees consider themselves citizens of Republic of Vietnam (before 1975) only --- not citizens of the so-called ‘Socialist Republic of Vietnam”.

Recognizing that this was a serious problem, TheU.S. Department of State had even issued a warning alerting Vietnamese Americans who intended to visit Vietnam about the “DUAL NATIONALITY”:

“U.S. citizens born in Vietnam, former citizens of Vietnam [Republic of Vietnam] and their children are required to obtain visas; however, in criminal matters, Vietnamese authorities treat them as Vietnamese nationals. They also may be subjected to laws that impose special obligations upon Vietnamese nationals, such as military service and taxes. U.S. citizens of Vietnamese origin may be charged with offenses allegedly committed prior to their original departure from Vietnam.” (17)

This jungle law that imposes “ special obligations” such as military service and taxes on Vietnamese Americans can only be considered a mockery of justice. Consequently,former refugees, whether they are Vietnamese Americans, Vietnamese Canadians or Vietnamese Australians are not free from worry during their visits to Vietnam. To avoid trouble, they are forced to pay off VC officials for “necessary paper” work and other requirements such as enclosing ten or twenty dollars in their passports to bribe the VC custom agents.

Perhaps the most heartrending sights in Vietnam today are pictures of tens of thousands of young women and children being trafficked for sexual exploitation in the brothels of Cambodia.

Most victims of human trafficking are from the provinces that make up the Mekong Delta: Bac Lieu, Soc Trang, An Giang, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Kien Giang…. and Tien Giang; they often put their lives at risk to earn money and consequently, fall victim to the hands of human traffickers.

Ironically, before 1975, the area was the richest agricultural land in Vietnam and its inhabitants were relatively affluent. However, because the majority of the people were Buddist followers of Hoa Hao or Cao Dai, and descendents of anti-communist activists, it is not surprising that the VC had every incentive to oppress and impoverish this once rich area. Reports indicate that government expenditures for education, public heath, highway construction, etc. for provinces in the Mekong Delta are very inadequate and disproportionately less than those for the Central and Northern provinces. Moreover, residents in Mekong Delta are subject to higher tax and local administration fees.

Vietnam is a nation rich in natural beauty, heritage, culture and with industrious people. It has a dynamic economy. And for too long Vietnam has been an authoritarian state that denies freedom and systematically tramples basic human rights.

Vietnam remains a country of particular concern for human trafficking. Experts report that for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation Vietnam is a source and destination country for men, women, and children. (18)

While, the U.N. and numerous charity organizations have given hundreds of millions of dollars to the VC government during the last ten years to limit human trafficking in Vietnam, prostitution, illicit drug use, and the spread of AIDS are still rampant throughout the country.

In the last few years, hundreds of corruption scandals have surfaced and evidence indicate that dozens of high-ranking officials have accepted bribes or stolen public funds. For example, Nguyen Viet Tien, Dao Dinh Binh and Bui Tien Dung were found to have been actively involved in the embezzlement of millions of US dollars in the PMU18 scandal. (19) (20)

However, for the ‘prestige of the Party’, neither was imprisoned. Under the VC regime, the only punishment for communist cadres who commit crimes is resignation from their position.

Corruption also abounds at the lower levels of the government. Policemen habitually accept bribes from drivers who violate traffic law and let the infractions go unrecorded. In public hospitals, patients give officials bribes as an incentive for “good service”. In the field of education, students buy exam questions in advance.

For years, the VC regime has continued to appeal for the eradication of corruption. But due to the longtime nationwide corruption,Vietnam today has become the land of jungle law, rampant with crime and deception. The U.S. State Department has warned:

“Motorcyclists, mostly carrying passengers, frequently grab bags, cameras, and other valuables from pedestrians or passengers riding in pedicabs or at the back of rented motorcycles. Thieves also congregate in large numbers around hotels frequented by foreign tourists and business people. Assaults have been reported in outlying areas”. (17)

All of the above accounts indicate that VC regime is not only corrupt but unwilling to solve the social problems inflicting Vietnam. While the VCP and its regime are in power, the Vietnamese people will live in poverty and oppression. It is the inevitable consequences of the VCP’s jungle law.

Vietnam has become the land of "jungle law", dominated by “Red Capitalists”