Radio Free Asia Vietnam Update #35 Wednesday, February 28, 2001
Washington, D.C. - Radio Free Asia (RFA) has obtained a copy of the application letter sent by a Vietnamese reporter to the highest authorities of Vietnam seeking permission to form an opposition party. What is unusual about this application is that it comes from a well-known reporter for the Journal of Communism, the main theoretical journal of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).
Dated September 2, 2000-the fifty-fifth anniversary of Ho Chi Minh's Declaration of Independence on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam-the letter is signed by Nguyen Vu Binh and was sent to Tran Duc Luong, president, and Nong Duc Manh, chairman, of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The content of the letter reads as follows:
"My name is Nguyen Vu Binh, reporter of Tap Chi Cong San ("Journal of Communism"), and I reside at Number 26, Cell 67b, Vinh Tuy Neighborhood, Hai Ba Trung Ward, Hanoi.
"After having studied and researched the situation of our country for quite some time, I realize that Vietnam is facing a comprehensive crisis covering the economy, politics and the society..In my understanding, the time is not far when we will be witnessing a huge transformation in our nation's history, and it will be nothing less than a transformation of our societal regime. It, therefore, becomes an urgent necessity for our society to have an opposition as represented by a political party so as to minimize the suffering that our people must bear in the process of transformation.
It is on the basis of such an understanding that I make myself bold to send in this application. I propose and respectfully hope that you, in the name of our country and for the interest of our nation, would allow me to form a party called the Liberal Democratic Party."