Activists riled by PhD for CPV leader
Regional human rights defenders are upset by Thammasat University's conferral of an honorary doctorate degree on the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).
Nguyen Phu Trong was to be awarded an honorary PhD by the university's faculty of science at a ceremony on Wednesday.
Activists within the region and in Europe signed an open letter protesting that the award was inappropriate in light of the intensifying crackdown on dissidents over the past year in Vietnam.
"How can a person like Mr Nguyen Phu Trong, who is responsible for the increasing number of human right abuses in a nation under the repressive rule of a mono-political party in which he is a top leader, be honoured by one of the oldest universities in Thailand that educates and advocates students 'to emphasise the benefits of living by the philosophy of sufficient economy, democratic values and social justice?'," the letter said.
Mr Trong, 69, is paying a state visit to Thailand, the first since CPV leader Do Muoi's visit in 1993.
Mr Trong, who has a degree in literature, joined the CPV in 1967 and had since been continuously promoted within the hierarchy of the party and the government it controls.
He was secretary of the Hanoi Communist Party Committee before being appointed chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam in 2006, and then secretary-general of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 2011.
"We fear that by awarding Mr Nguyen Phu Trong an honorary doctorate, Thammasat University will be seen as providing support to a politician whose words and deeds have proven to run counter to human rights and democratic values, and that the University may be mistaken by others as an advocate for repressive rulers and dictators," the letter said, urging the faculty and the university to call off the awards ceremony.
The activists charged that the Vietnamese communist party kept delaying political reform, and whenever the party senses the people's aspiration for democracy and freedom in an era of globalisation it becomes more oppressive.
In the recent few years, given the worst economic recession since 1986 and the escalating tension with China over maritime sovereignty disputes, Vietnam had and even worse record of human right violations, with hundreds of crackdowns on peaceful demonstrations, arbitrary detention and severe prison sentences against political dissidents and human rights activists, his opponents charged.
"As a propagandist, Mr Nguyen Phu Trong has always been loyal to the party, a party whose platform is just to maintain a political monopoly for its interests. Now, as the party leader, he is among the most conservative minds that cling to the obsolete ideology of communism and deny the country of the opportunities it needs to develop and flourish," the open letter said.
Mr Trong responded to the growing number of dissent bloggers at a meeting on Feb 25, 2013, saying that: "Who wants pluralism and a multi-party system? Who wants separation of power? Who wants to de-politicalise the military?... This must be nothing else but deterioration! What would it possibly become to pursue mass litigation, demonstration and class action lawsuit?"
His speech was broadcast on national television and stirred a public outcry in the blogging and Facebook communities. The following morning, journalist Nguyen Dac Kien wrote an article in which he openly criticised Mr Trong. That afternoon, Mr Kien was fired.
The letters said the party has not stopped its suppression of opposition.
In May 2013, a 21-year-old female student and her 25-year-old friend were sentenced to six and eight years in prison respectively for "conducting anti-state propaganda" when they urged the government to protect Vietnam's sovereignty against China's aggressive sea expansion.
Within less than a month, two prominent bloggers were arrested and charged with "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state." Another blogger, also a lawyer and legal activist, is due to stand trial on July 9, 2013.
BY Bangkokpost.com
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