CPP Comrade Men Sam An thanks Ong Nguyen Minh Triet for "timely and effective assistance to Cambodia's revolutionary cause"

CPP comrade Men Sam An

Cambodia, Laos delegates arrive

May, 03 2010
VNS (Hanoi)

HCM City — President Nguyen Minh Triet received delegates from Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam, who were attending a people-to-people friendship and co-operation meeting in HCM City on Friday.

The President welcomed the Cambodian and Lao delegations to the meeting, which took place as the Vietnamese people were celebrating the 35th anniversary of the South's liberation and the nation's reunification. This reflected the solidarity and sentiments that the Cambodian and Lao peoples had extended to their Vietnamese counterparts, he said.

Despite their different conditions and situations,the three countries shared a traditional history of struggling against foreign colonialists and imperialists, and had always supported each other in national liberation, Triet noted.

He told the guests that reciprocal visits by leaders of the three nations in recent years and booming economic relationships had demonstrated the continuous development of trust, solidarity, friendship and co-operation.

Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Cambodian delegation Men Sam An thanked Viet Nam for its valuable, timely and effective assistance to Cambodia's revolutionary cause and to its fight against the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime.

The President of the Cambodia-Viet Nam Friendship Association also conveyed her deep condolences and gratitude to the families of Vietnamese volunteer officials and soldiers who had laid down their lives for the national liberation and recovery of Cambodia.

Vilayvong Bouddakham, head of the Lao delegation and Vice President of the Laos-Viet Nam Friendship Association, said that the 1975 Great Spring Victory was important not only to the people of Viet Nam but also to those of Laos and Cambodia.

The Lao people were always grateful for the wholehearted assistance provided by the Party, State and people of Viet Nam over the past years, he said.

The meeting closed on May 1, having put forward many proposals on how to increase exchanges and co-operation among the three countries as well as sub-regional and regional co-operation.

It suggested the organisation of a "Green Summer", in which Vietnamese youths could take part in voluntary activities in Laos and Cambodia, and vice versa.

The three countries' delegates also proposed that their governments and ministries of education and training set up a common university to offer training in Vietnamese, Lao and Thai languages in culture, society, medical care and information technology, and to mobilise the three countries' businesses to get involved in these programmes.

Vietnam: Sharp Backsliding on Religious Freedom

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh returned to Vietnam in 2005 after years in exile. Despite initially welcoming the monk to open a Buddhist center at Bat Nha monastery in Lam Dong province, in September 2009 Vietnamese authorities launched a violent crackdown on Thich Nhat Hanh’s followers at the monastery. (Reuters)

Harsh Crackdown on Followers of Buddhist Peace Activist Thich Nhat Hanh

October 18, 2009
Human Rights Watch

"Once again Vietnam has clamped down on a peaceful religious group – even one that was initially welcomed by the government. The government views many religious groups, particularly popular ones that it fears it can’t control, as a challenge to the Communist Party’s authority." - Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) - The violent forced expulsion of more than 300 followers of the world-renowned Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh from Bat Nha monastery in late September highlights the Vietnamese government's suppression of religious freedom, Human Rights Watch said today.

In 2005, the Vietnamese government welcomed Thich Nhat Hanh during his first return to his homeland after 39 years in exile abroad. Government and religious officials subsequently invited him to open a Buddhist meditation center at Bat Nha monastery in Lam Dong province, which soon began to draw large numbers of followers.

But on September 27, 2009, police officers cordoned off the monastery as more than 100 thugs and undercover police officers armed with sticks and hammers broke down the doors and forcefully evicted 150 monks - all followers of Thich Nhat Hanh - beating some of the monks in the process. Police reportedly arrested two senior monks, Phap Hoi and Phap Sy, whose whereabouts remain unknown. The next day, in response to threats and coercion, more than 200 Buddhist nuns, also adherents of Thich Nhat Hanh, fled the monastery, seeking temporary refuge with the monks at a nearby pagoda.

"Once again Vietnam has clamped down on a peaceful religious group - even one that was initially welcomed by the government," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government views many religious groups, particularly popular ones that it fears it can't control, as a challenge to the Communist Party's authority."

The crackdown is thought to be linked in part to proposals Thich Nhat Hanh made during a private meeting with President Nguyen Minh Triet in 2007 - and later made public - urging the government to ease its restrictions on religion.

All religious groups must be authorized by the government and overseen by government-appointed management committees. For Buddhists - the majority of the population - the management entity is the government-sanctioned Vietnamese Buddhist Church (VBC), sometimes referred to as the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha.

The VBC, which is designated to preside over all Buddhist organizations and "sects" in Vietnam, oversees pagodas and educational institutes. Its approval is required for Buddhist ordinations and ceremonies, donations to pagodas, and temple expansions. It also vets the content of Buddhist publications and religious studies curricula offered at pagoda schools. In 2007, it authorized the establishment of Thich Nhat Hanh's Buddhist training and meditation center at Bat Nha monastery.

Other Buddhist organizations - such as the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and some Hoa Hao and ethnic Khmer Buddhist congregations - are banned by the government because they choose to operate independently of government-appointed management committees.

The UBCV has faced decades of harassment and repression for seeking independent status and appealing to the government to respect human rights and cease its interference in religious affairs. Its leaders have been threatened, detained, put under pagoda arrest, imprisoned, and placed under strict travel restrictions for many years.

"Sadly, the harassment and expulsion of Buddhists in Lam Dong is not an isolated incident," said Pearson. "Buddhists in Vietnam have long faced harsh treatment and persecution."

Other religious groups, including some Catholics, ethnic minority Christians, Mennonites, and members of the Cao Dai faith, suffer repression and persecution for practicing their faith or conducting peaceful demonstrations calling for religious freedom and the return of church properties confiscated by the government. (For more information, see Background on Religious Freedom, below.)

The Crackdown on Thich Nhat Hanh's Followers

Thich Nhat Hanh - one of the world's most prominent and influential Buddhist monks - first drew international attention in the 1960s as a leader of South Vietnamese Buddhists opposed to the US war in Vietnam, critical of all sides to the conflict. He continued his anti-war activities from exile in France after he left the country in 1965. The government banned him from the country as he increasingly took on human rights issues, including the plight of the thousands of boat people who fled Vietnam after the communist victory in 1975 and the persecution of Buddhist clergy and patriarchs.

In February 2005, Thich Nhat Hanh was warmly welcomed by the Vietnamese government during his widely publicized return from exile. Thousands of Vietnamese attended Buddhist ceremonies, lectures, and monastic retreats led by Thich Nhat Hanh during three visits to Vietnam.

His return took place at a time when the government wanted to present a less-repressive stance toward religion in the hope that the United States would remove Vietnam from its blacklist of countries violating religious freedom, a stepping stone for its entry into the World Trade Organization in 2007.

During Thich Nhat Hanh's second visit to Vietnam in 2007, Thich Duc Nghi, the abbot of Bat Nha monastery and a VBC member, invited him to open a Buddhist center at the monastery. Thich Duc Nghi donated the monastery to Thich Nhat Hanh, whose followers and supporters invested money to rebuild it.

During that trip, Thich Nhat Hanh presented a 10-point proposal for religious reforms in his meeting with Triet. "Please separate religion from politics and politics from religious affairs," Thich Nhat Hanh said. "Please stop all surveillance by the government on religious activities, disband the Government Department for Religious Affairs, but first of all disband the Religious Police. All religious associations should be able to operate freely in accordance to laws and regulations, just like any cultural, commercial, industrial and social associations."

Tensions with the authorities over his calls for religious reforms, as well as the growing popularity of his meditation center, surfaced in 2008. His public support for the Dalai Lama and Tibet, which likely caused China to put pressure on Hanoi, may also have played a role.

In October 2008, the central government's Religious Affairs Committee stated that Thich Nhat Hanh had distorted Vietnam's religious policies and that some of his followers lacked legal rights to live at Bat Nha monastery. The abbot of Bat Nha - reportedly under pressure from his superiors - ordered Thich Nhat Hanh's followers to leave.

In June 2009, water, electricity, and telephone lines were shut off in an effort to force the monks and nuns to leave. Local civilians overran the monastery in June and July, shouting and threatening the monks and nuns, and confiscating food, furniture, and other property. The forced expulsions followed in September.

"The ousting of Thich Nhat Hanh's followers is clearly linked to his call for religious reforms, rather than the alleged failure of his followers to fulfill local residency and registration requirements," said Pearson. "Religious groups should be allowed to conduct religious activities freely, organize and manage themselves, and engage in peaceful expression."

The government accuses Thich Nhat Hanh's followers of conducting "illegal activities" and "abusing the religious regulations of the Communist Party and the government, to sabotage the government and oppose the VBC," according to a confidential memo from the District People's Committee in Lam Dong, dated September 17, 2009, obtained by Human Rights Watch. The directive instructs government officials to pressure Thich Nhat Hanh's followers to relocate to other pagodas under VBC management or return to their home villages.

Buddhists in Vietnam and around the world, as well as foreign embassies in Hanoi, condemned the harassment and eviction of Thich Nhat Hanh's followers. On October 5, 180 Vietnamese academics, poets, teachers, and scientists, including some Vietnamese Communist Party members, sent a petition to the government requesting an investigation into the incident. Even the VBC management board in Lam Dong deplored the crackdown in a confidential report to the VBC executive management council dated October 6, 2009.

Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese government to release everyone imprisoned for peaceful religious or political activities, and to end restrictions on religious groups, regardless of whether they affiliate with the officially authorized religious organizations. Human Rights Watch also urged the United States to reinstate Vietnam on its blacklist of countries violating freedom of religion.

"Vietnam's respect for human rights and religious freedom has sharply deteriorated since the US removed it from its blacklist and Vietnam was accepted into the World Trade Organization," said Pearson. "The Vietnamese government should stop treating freedom of religion as a privilege to be granted by the government rather than an inalienable right."

Background on Religious Freedom

Vietnam's 2004 Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions affirms the right to freedom of religion. However, it requires that all religious groups register with the government, and bans any religious activity deemed to cause public disorder, harm national security, or "sow divisions." Adherents of some religious groups that are not officially recognized by the government are persecuted. Security officials disperse their religious gatherings, confiscate religious literature, and summon religious leaders to police stations for interrogation. In some instances, police destroy churches of unauthorized religious groups and detain or imprison their members on charges of violating national security.

Members of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), once the largest organization of Buddhists in southern and central Vietnam, have been threatened, detained, put under pagoda arrest, imprisoned, and placed under strict travel restrictions for many years. In July 2009, for example, police surrounded many UBCV pagodas in southern and central Vietnam to prevent monks - including the current Patriarch, Thich Quang Do - from attending a memorial ceremony for the UBCV patriarch, Thich Huyen Quang, who died in 2008.

While Hoa Hao Buddhism and the Cao Dai religion are officially recognized religions, many members strongly resist official pressure to affiliate with the government-appointed committees that oversees their religious affairs. Two Hoa Hao Buddhists immolated themselves in 2005 to protest religious repression and imprisonment of their leaders. In 2005, nine Cao Dai members were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison on national security charges after they tried to deliver a petition calling for religious freedom to delegates attending an international conference in Cambodia.

The government persecutes other unsanctioned religious groups, such as members of Christian churches not registered with the government-authorized Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN), including independent Mennonite congregations affiliated with Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, a former prisoner of conscience; and ethnic minority Christians in the northern and central Vietnam.

Christian members of indigenous ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands, commonly referred to as Montagnards, face ongoing persecution and restrictions, particularly in villages where people refuse to join the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, or are suspected of following "Tin Lanh Dega" (Dega Christianity), an unauthorized religion the government considers subversive.

During 2009, at least 40 Montagnard Christians have been arrested in Gia Lai province alone for participating in unregistered "Tin Lanh Dega" house churches. On August 14, for example, police raided a prayer meeting in a home in Chu Se district, badly beating eight Montagnard Christians, including one who had to be hospitalized. In another raid in February, the police arrested 11 Montagnard Christians from several villages, beating and shocking them with electric batons when they refused to sign documents pledging to join the Evangelical Church of Vietnam. During the last year, authorities destroyed at least two churches in Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands.

Hundreds of people are currently imprisoned in Vietnam for their religious or political beliefs, or a combination of the two. They include at least 300 Montagnard Christians; Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest; Nguyen Thi Hong, a Mennonite pastor; members of the Cao Dai faith, and at least five Hoa Hao Buddhists.

In some cases, church leaders who have emerged as civil rights campaigners are charged with national security crimes and sent to prison. This was the case with Father Nguyen Van Ly, who peacefully called for the government to show greater respect and tolerance for human rights, religious freedom and democratic principles. Arrested in 2006, he is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence.

Other prominent religious figures who advocate religious freedom and democratic reforms, such as the UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Quang Do and another Catholic priest, Phan Van Loi, have been held under pagoda or house arrest for years.

"In a country such as Vietnam, where the government bans independent human rights organizations, church leaders are often the leading voices advocating for fundamental rights to free speech and religious freedom," said Pearson. "While the Vietnamese government loves to tour visiting dignitaries around crowded churches and model pagodas, it tries to deny the repression of believers that takes place every day."

Conflicts over government confiscation of church properties often go hand-in-hand with increased repression of certain denominations, for example the violent crackdown by police and government-hired thugs in 2008 on peaceful prayer vigils conducted by Catholics calling for the return of church properties in Hanoi. In July 2009, as many as 200,000 Catholics peacefully protested in Quang Binh province after police destroyed a temporary church structure erected near the ruins of the historic Tam Toa Church in Vinh Diocese. Police used tear gas and electric batons to beat parishioners who resisted, arresting 19, of whom seven were charged with disturbing public order.

US Lifting of Restrictions

As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other human rights covenants, Vietnam is obligated to respect freedom of expression, religious belief, and worship.

In 2004, the US State Department designated Vietnam a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) because of what it called "particularly severe violations of religious freedom." In 2006, the State Department removed Vietnam from the list, citing the release of religious prisoners and less-restrictive legislation governing religion. Two months later, the US granted Vietnam permanent normal trade status, which led to Vietnam's membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The lifting of Vietnam's CPC status by the US was deemed premature by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and many international human rights and religious freedom groups. After a visit to Vietnam in May 2009, the commission recommended once again that the US reinstate Vietnam on the list, stating that "Vietnam's overall human rights record remains poor, and has deteriorated since Vietnam joined WTO in January 2007."

Son Chhay and the communist Vietnamese domination of Cambodia

Son Chhay and the vietnamese domination

News from Cambodia N° 0733-E
By Khemara Jati

We publish below declarations of the Deputy Son Chhay on the vietnamese domination in Cambodia under the kind of exploitation of the Rubber plant on 100,000 hectares of our lands.

We would like first of all to congratulate Son Chhay on his intervention which answers to the fundamental concerns of our fellow countrymen. However, we like to underline that Son Chhay did not clarify about these former officers and soldiers of the Popular Army of Vietnam who come to settle definitively on our home with their family, women and children. It is a part of Hanoi plan to transform our country into vietnamese province. They are real colonies of populating as during colonial period. It is necessary to clarify also that the rubber production will be exported by the port of Prey Nokor as vietnamese rubber, as it is, already, the case for a million tons of Cambodian rice every year. This rice produces mainly in the eastern part of our country.

On this subject of the vietnamese colonization / settlers, we wish to add that the Vietnamese are widely profitable, even before the exploitation of these 100,000 hectares of our lands, by the sale of the multi-hundred-years-old precious wood productions by plundering of our forests only.

On the other hand, let us call back that the vietnamese Sokimex company already owns immense lands in the big cities of Cambodia, in particular in Phnom Penh and at Sihanouk-ville and their province in the neighborhood; that the Vietnamese yeay Phu alone already swallows about 8% of our territory?

We wish that Son Chhay and/or the other numerous patriotic personalities give us or express their opinion to the public onto a certain number of the other problems, unfortunately regrettably not exhaustive, which make that our country is becoming gradually to a vietnamese province very soon.

1- For the independence of a country, the energy independence is one of the fundamental factors, like the other country around the world.

a. Why attributing to the vietnamese companies of two hydroelectric dams construction in our provinces of the Northeast ? We know on the other hand that in order to build these dams, the Vietnamese are going to come to settle down definitively with their family including women, children and friends. Like already the case for the other constructions for examples of roads coming from Vietnam which continuing on our territory to drain our wealth towards the port of Prey Nokor? More, this electricity will be sold to Cambodians, by the vietnamese company, with big profit, because of the monopoly situation. The electricity on the West, up to Siem Reap is from Thailand. During the conflict with Thailand concerning the tourist exploitation of Preah Vihear Temple, Thailand threatened to cut its electricity. So to depending our energy especially electricity of our neighbors is to take place under the constant threat to be deprived of it. Why voluntarily put ourselves under the energy dependence of our neighbors? Why voluntarily put the independence of Cambodia under the energy dependence of our neighbors?

b. We know now that we have an important quantity of petroleum and natural gas. Why not, from now on, envisaging the construction of an oil refinery? A refinery of petroleum produces the other numerous products beside the gasoline. Let us remind that before 1970, Cambodia has an oil refinery near our first seaport Sihanouk-ville. All the independent countries have access to the sea, possess at least a port. Most of the seaports in the world are among most big cities of the planet. Some are even capitals of the country like London, Bangkok and Tokyo for example. Why, from now on, not envisaging projects to build electric thermal power stations to supply the electricity to the whole country? Instead of building networks lines with high tensions from our neighbors, in particular from Laos and from Vietnam, supplying electricity to our provinces of the North, the Northeast and East? Up to the neighborhood of Phnom Penh?

c. Why does the vietnamese Sokimex company continue to enjoy certain monopolies by importing the gasoline bought from Vietnam? Why, in Cambodia, the gas cost 50 % more expensive than at our neighbors? By plundering our wealth since its creation in 1979, Sokimex has a war treasure of several billions of US dollars, even dozens billions of US dollars! Now it is a State in the State and enjoys a total impunity.

d. Why contracts with foreign companies concerning the research and the exploitation of our wealth in hydrocarbons, remain always secret even for the Members of Parliament ? Is Sokimex associated in the exploitation of our wealth in hydrocarbons? Are there engineers, technicians and Cambodian administrators in the investigations, the exploitations of our petroleum and our gas?

In fact, why placing Cambodia under the total dependence of our neighbors, in particular in the energy matter : electricity and gasoline, while we have all the means for, not only to protect our energy independent but to sell more our energy wealth to our neighbors and in the world?

2- The political independence depends largely on the economic independence. The economic independence passes by the importance of the national scientific and technical staff for all levels and in all subjects, capable of producing and of managing the whole economic device of the country.

Why for example, nowadays, does the French-Vietnamese Hospital of Prey Nokor outstrip by far the French-Cambodian Hospital in Phnom Penh? Why are we obliged to go to make analyze report in Vietnam the DNA of Cambodian Ko Prey ? Let us remind that during colonial period, in Cambodia, the Vietnamese had almost the same statutes as the Frenchmen. The Cambodians pay more tax per capita than the Vietnamese in Vietnam. Let us remind also that the Vietnamese in Cambodia did pay almost no tax! Because likened to Frenchmen! So the Vietnamese pupils at the secondary school Sisowath, in Phnom Penh, different from the Cambodian pupils, did not pay tax! It was the reason of the first strike of the Cambodian pupils in 1936! That, during colonial period, the best hospitals, the best secondary schools, all the scientific establishments as Institutes Ministers and the University are all in Vietnam! Built with the cooperation of the taxes raised in Cambodia. During the Japanese occupation, in the countryside, a Cambodian family had only a single dress to go out! Other members of the family, had to cloister themselves at home quite nude! Cambodia had no right to make some salt from the sea water! Cambodia had to buy the salt produced in Vietnam. All the business of Cambodia was run by Prey Nokor! Why do major powers continue to impose us the same policies as during colonial period?

On the other hand, should not we revise profoundly our education system? Besides, to increase the salary of the teachers and professors? Should not we send a delegation, including high-level Cambodian specialists, to investigate on this subject in Vietnam, in Thailand, in Malaysia and in Finland? These countries which, as the Malaysia and Finland, are spent within thirty years from poor countries to become rich countries and full employment? Let us remind that our neighbours already get ready to build nuclear power stations to produce some electricity. In when our turn?

An independent country passes first of all by the existing of the industries of high professional skill, means the industries with high added value, which requires the training of the engineers and the high-level scientists in great number. In Vietnam every year, more than 30,000 engineers of very high level are formed, without adding the technicians of all levels. Proportionally to the populations, it would be necessary to form in Cambodia at least 6,000 engineers of very high level yearly! When will be the case? How can we form quickly these engineers and scientists if the education in university is ruling all in foreign languages? English, French and Chinese? Is it the case to the countries which we have just quoted earlier? And in all other independent country? Comparing our country to Singapore and to India it is to underestimate totally the history and the education situation of these two countries! Why does Japan help Vietnam to develop the Vietnamese scientific and technical language?

3- To develop the countryside, all independent countries develop the internal roads to facilitate the communications of peoples and the circulation of goods. It is the case of the countries that we have just quoted above ? When important projects to remedy this backward situation of our ground communications, in particular towards our cities and villages in our borders? How to defend our borders if the best roads start from our borders towards our neighbors? Already the business at the border is ruling mainly towards our neighbors? For lack of being able to make it in Cambodia!

4- The independence of a country is above all the territorial and maritime integrity of the country. Why Son Chhay and/or the other patriotic personalities are not going any more visiting our fellow countrymen living on our borders? Why not encouraging the national and international tourism towards Angkor Borei, capital of the Fou Nan, one of the cradles of our civilization and our history? Angkor Borei, close to the Vietnamese border, is not it already vietnamized ? Why not asking official questions to delay concerning the installation of border points with Vietnam? Is it the asphalted road towards Preah Vihear is in construction? Otherwise in when? This road is going to irrigate at the same time our provinces of the North, already largely absorbing by the business with Thailand.

5- The tourism develops very fruitfully. Angkor is the main engine of the development of the tourism in our region. This tourism influx benefits mainly our neighbors. Tourists coming from Vietnam, say that there is nothing as tourist in this country. So all the tourists coming in our region want to come to Angkor. So our neighbors and in particular Vietnam is obliged to include Angkor in the tourist journeys to visit Vietnam. Why Cambodia is the only country of the region without any airline company of international capacity? Before 1970, we had «Royal Air Cambodia » which was run well.

6- To protect our territorial waters, it would be needed a navy capable of protecting it. We have military aids of the United States and China. On the other hand American and French warships come to cast anchor at Sihanouk-ville. Why does Cambodia remain, still incapable to prevent our neighbors from coming to plunder freely our halieutic wealth? Who will guarantee of offshore oil installations security? The navies of our neighbors? What are the necessity of having the good military relations with Washington, Paris and Beijing?

We wish that our fellow countrymen mobilize and gather on these questions concerning the future of our country and thus on the future of our children. Even only by the paper and/or by the public meetings.

How can we appreciate the helps value of major powers, if we do not know primarily what we need to defend long-term of our national independence? Our neighbors know very well what they need, of this fact they have good relations at the same time with the United States and China. In Vietnam, the Chinese heavy industries and the giant of the data processing Intel build in Prey Nokor a factory of a billion of US dollars to produce chips. Bill Gates is forming 15,000 vietnamese computer specialists of very high level. Why in Cambodia, there are only factories using, mainly, only the muscular forces and the Cambodian workers? Can Cambodia become, one day, an independent country without high-level industries technique?

Next is the full text of Son Chhay's declaration of RFA.