Vietnam Update - April 14, 2000
April 14, 2000
In an exclusive interview granted to Phan Dung of Radio Free Asia (RFA), on April 7, French journalist Arnaud Dubus revealed that he has been detained twice by the police in Vietnam. Additionally, his notes and papers were confiscated at the airport as he was about to board a plane to leave for Bangkok.
Dubus says this was the eighth time that he had visited Vietnam, the first time being in 1989. As a journalist, he was followed by authorities and was unable to do his work. This time he went to Vietnam as a tourist.
Dubus is a correspondent for the Swiss papers La Liberation and Le Temps and an editorial writer for Radio France Internationale (RFI). He is based in Bangkok.
During this recent visit to Vietnam, Dubus was able to meet with prominent dissidents Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, Reverend Chan Tin, Professor Nguyen Ngoc Lan and others. They all reported that they are followed regularly, their telephones are tapped and their mail is censored. They are also prevented from seeing one another. Dubus also visited the Cao Dai Cathedral in Tay Ninh, where he was told by Le Quang Tan, a high-ranking officer of the church, that Caodaism is under intense pressure to conform to government regulations. A visit with Mr. Le Quang Liem, a Hoa Hao Buddhist leader, revealed the same.
Dubus noted that compared to 10 years ago, the Vietnamese people are much freer to express their opinions in the street: only politics is taboo-even academics and journalists avoid the topic. Dubus cautions that nonetheless, dissidents are kept under tight surveillance with no possibility of coming together for any common action.
The day before he was to depart from Vietnam, Dubus was interrogated by police and accused of violating the tourist visa regulations. The police claimed that as a tourist he should have hired a guide. Dubus was released without actual charges being made against him, and noted that the police were very courteous. While at the airport on the day of his departure, police once again detained him for interrogation, but this time confiscated all of his work. The items confiscated included computer disks and documents, as well as a biography of Ho Chi Minh written by Jean Lacouture.
Dubus stated in the interview with RFA that politically, Vietnam is in a vacuum since members of the CPV could care less about Marxism-Leninism and most people ignore the so-called "Ho Chi Minh thought."
The interview with Dubus aired on April 7 and can be heard at:
http://www.rfa.org/service_home.cgi?service=Vietnamese