Vietnamese Reporter Fired for Critical Essay
RFA -
02/26/2013
A state-run newspaper in
Vietnam has fired a journalist after he criticized the ruling Communist Party
general secretary for speaking out against political reforms.
The official Family and Society newspaper announced its decision to fire
reporter Nguyen Dac Kien for “violating the rules of his contract” and said it
was disassociating itself from his views in a statement issued Tuesday.
“Family and Society would like to inform its readers that Nguyen Dac Kien
violated the operating rules of the newspaper and his labor contract. Therefore,
the discipline panel of the newspaper convened and decided to discipline Nguyen
Dac Kien by firing him,” the statement read.
“As of now, Nguyen Dac Kien is no longer with the newspaper and he is held
accountable before the law for his words and behavior. Organization and
individuals wishing to contact the newspaper should speak with the office
directly, not through Nguyen Dac Kien.”
The announcement of his sacking came less than 24 hours after Kien’s essay,
which criticized a recent speech by Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu
Trong, became a viral sensation online in Vietnam.
‘Ready for anything’
Speaking to RFA’s Vietnamese Service on Tuesday, Kien maintained that he has
done nothing wrong.
But he said that he does not blame the newspaper for removing him because of the
potential fallout from his article.
“My awareness of citizen’s rights did not come yesterday or the day before—it
has been a long process. The motivation to express that awareness came after
listening to what [Trong] said on television,” he said.
In an address carried on national television Monday, Trong had lambasted a
recent “deterioration” of the country’s morals and ethics and slammed critics
who had called for the removal of a constitutional provision that underlines the
leadership role of the Communist Party.
“Recently there have been some comments that have contributed to the
deterioration of the political, ideological and moral environment,” Trong said.
“There are people who have called for the removal of Article 4 of the
Constitution, who have questioned the Party's leadership role [and] who have
called for multiparty pluralism [and] who seek separation of powers and railed
against the politicization of the military,” he said.
Article 4 states that the Communist Party “is the force assuming leadership of
the State and society.”
“People take these ideas and express them through the mass media. If that isn’t
contributing to deterioration, what is?" Trong asked.
Kien, who is known for his nationalist views, wrote in response that Trong only
had the right to criticize members of the Communist Party.
“You are the general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party. If you want to
use the word deterioration, then you can only use it in reference to people who
are Party members,” he wrote.
“If you and your comrades want to keep Article 4, maintain your leadership,
politicize the military, and do not want pluralism or separation of powers, then
it is your own wish and your Party’s. You can’t assume that is the wish of the
Vietnamese people,” he said, adding that such views are also unlikely to
represent the entirety of the Communist Party.
Kien also told RFA that despite the popularity of his article, he had done
nothing especially courageous and that “anybody who is pushing for Vietnamese
democracy has to make the same sacrifices I have.”
“I’m not surprised by the decision to fire me. I understand and sympathize with
the leaders of the newspaper … I would like people to sympathize with the
newspaper—don’t strongly criticize them, because if I were them I might have
done the same,” he said.
He said he was “ready for anything” that he might face because of his decision
to write the article, but said he hoped that everybody—from ordinary Vietnamese
people to the leaders of government—might learn to be more open-minded and
accepting of ideas different from their own.
“I’m not worried for myself, but I worry about my family—my wife, my child, and
my parents. I understand the path I have chosen.” Kien said.
“My words are for everybody … In a free country, [what I did] is a normal thing.
I hope we can all join hands to push for freedom and democracy in Vietnam.”
Call for change
Kien said in his article that no Communist Party document backed up Trong’s
claims about moral deterioration being linked to calls for reforms.
“There is no such article that says removing Article 4 constitutes
deterioration, or that pluralism and the depoliticizing of the military amounts
to deterioration. Only party corruption, or when party policy works against the
benefit of the people, can it be called deterioration,” he said.
In addition to the removal of Article 4, Kien called for a conference to set up
a new constitution to better “represent the people’s spirit, not the Party’s”
and for the implementation of a multiparty system in Vietnam.
He expressed his support for the separation of powers with an emphasis on a
system that increases autonomy for local government, the elimination of
state-owned corporations, and the depoliticizing of the military.
Reported by Chan Nhu for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by
Joshua Lipes.