AFP Tuesday - Oct 12, 1999
(AFP) - Prominent Vietnamese dissident General Tran Do has decried the "repressive" ruling machine of the communist party for its harassment and corruption, according to a copy of a letter obtained on Tuesday.
Do, a leading intellectual and party stalwart for more than 50 years, was stripped of his party membership in January after he wrote a series of critical attacks against the country's leadership .Since then, he has been followed, his phone has been tapped and his friends interrogated, 76-year-old Do said in an open letter, a copy of which was sent to AFP." You should stop these childish games," Do wrote.
He also accused the authorities of practising the same kind of intimidation he was subjected to as a communist when Vietnam was still a French colony."When I was in young, the western spies followed me like that. Now I am getting old, I see the same thing," he wrote. "For nearly one year I have kept silent because I find that the Vietnam ruling machine is a repressive apparatus. But I believe in the purity of my conscience. You need secrecy, but I must speak out."
The letter described the communist party as riddled with bureaucracy, corruption, opportunism and a lack of democracy, echoing themes from Do' searlier writings which caused his ouster from the party. He wrote he would have quit the party anyway because he could not "support the party lies"."I cannot accept the party leadership's methods because they are dictatorial and non-democratic. I want the party reformed in order to save itself," he said.
He also attacked party rhetoric which described Vietnam as a poor country,a theme frequently invoked in Vietnam's discussion with foreigners."Only the people are poor, not the state leaders. They have nice cars,air conditioned villas and even hold very big parties," he said.
A long time advocate of free speech, Do said his application to publish anewspaper was rejected by the Ministry of Culture and Information earlier this year.
Beginning in late 1997, Do began writing lengthy communiques addressed to the leaders of the party and government calling for "a dialogue" with concerned party members over the party's directio. He also called for free elections, a legal code protecting freedom of speech and expression, and a "frank and constructive exchanges in the press".
His call for soul searching among party leaders was in part provoked by widespread rural unrest during 1997 in his natal province Thai Binh, south of Hanoi.