An open letter, distributed by a secret society called The National Restoration Organization, has been creating chaos inside Vietnam. No one knows who actually belong to this secret society and, for that matter, how many, but their message is clear: The communist party should not claim to represent the people of Vietnam and it should not therefore force the communist Marxist Lennist doctrine down the people's throat. Thousands of these letters have somehow been circulating throughout the country via the post office. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City citizens are the primary recipients but so are Vietnamese newspapapers overseas. Newspapers like Viet Merc, Tin Viet News, Nguoi Viet and Calitoday have all been recipients of these letters.
The letters demand that the communist party repeal the Fourth Amendment of its consitution, which is a direct translation of the USSR's constituion. That amendment basically says that the Vietnamese Communist party represents the hope and dreams of the Vietnamese people and it is committed to Marxist-Leninist ideology and the socialist ideals of Ho Chi Minh.
"But the communist party is an unworkable party," the letters claim, "It is full of infighting and factionalism... It manages to have complete power over the people of Vietnam because of the 4th Amendment and it continues to oppress religious groups and all social activities that it deems threatening to its survival."
Last week dissident Nguyen Dang Que publicly called for the involvement of overseas Vietnamese in his effort to undermine the communist regime by investing heavily in Vietnam in the private sectors and by demanding for greater transparency in the country. Freedom of expression and democracy are the basic human rights that all Vietnamese deserve, Que said.
Yet Que is clearly not the person responsible for these letters. He's a southerner with no connection to the communist party and is still under house arrest. Vietnamese observers, both inside and outside the country, believe that the letters come from "insiders," that is to say some communist officials themselves.
In the last decade or so, many prominent communist members have publicly spoken out against the communist party, ridden by the problem of corruption. They demanded for more human rights in Vietnam and a multiparty system.
It must be noted that anti communist activities have been largely an activity that is monitored by Hanoi's secret service. The service is notoriously cruel and efficient. In 1988 a post office worker in Ho Chi Minh city helped circulated similar anti communist letters and was arrested and tortured. When released, she was blind and her legs broken.
But with the recent visit of Collin Powell, the American secretary of State, during the Asean conference in Hanoi, and the trade agreement with the US about to be ratified in September, there's a feeling in Vietnam that the country will be somehow held accountable in international eyes.
With the return of the Americans, those who champion Vietnamese democracy and human rights are all feeling more bold by the moral boost. It would not be surprising that, when the multiparty system does happen in Vietnam and the fourth amendment repealed, The National Restoration Organization will become the National Restoration Party, with a few ex-communist members as its main operators.
Andrew Lam
NCM Online - August 7, 2001