Open Letter
22 May 2009
To the media,
To my Vietnamese compatriots,
I—Nguyen Van Be—resident of Sydney, Australia, am writing this letter to officially protest the outrageous accusations by the government of Vietnam regarding my and my wife’s recent trip to Vietnam.
In April 2009, my wife and I visited Vietnam. This trip was an entirely personal affair, for the purpose of resolving family matters.
Nevertheless, my wife and I were harassed by the Vietnamese authorities and obstructed from taking our flight on May 2, 2009, to return to Australia. We were coerced and kept in a room every day for a week. After that week we were jailed against the law for nine days, beginning on May 9, 2009, in Saigon. Not until May 18, 2009, after being pressured by the Australian Consulate in Saigon, did the authorities release us and, as they called it, “deported” us from Vietnam.
Through state-run media outlets, the communist regime accused me of having travelled to Vietnam to commit “terrorist” activities. This is an outrageous allegation without any evidence nor factual basis.
On the other hand, in our deportation papers from Vietnam, the reason they cited was an “administrative violation” stemming from our alleged unlawful photographing of public spaces.
During the entire time we were in Vietnam, besides our family obligations, my wife and I witnessed large numbers of aggrieved citizens assembled in front of government agencies, foreign consulates and even on busy streets. Standing in front of those pitiful scenes, we took photos and shared some helpful suggestions with a few of the aggrieved protesters, in a gesture to recognize the bond between people of the same blood.
This was all there is to it, and I would think that in a society that is progressive, free and democratic, citizen protests are only natural; and bystanders taking pictures and conversing with the demonstrators are also a perfectly normal occurrence. But, in a society that is sealed from the free flow of information and dominated by a dictatorship, such activities are forbidden. And when they found out I was a member of Viet Tan, the communist regime purposely created a web of mysterious details in order to brand me as a “terrorist”. In reality, Viet Tan is committed to achieving a just and democratic Vietnam through peaceful, nonviolent struggle.
I would like to repeat that the official reason for my deportation was an “administrative violation” stemming from the “unlawful” photographing of public places. I was never deported for the reasons circulated in the Vietnamese state-run media. I therefore strongly protest the arbitrary accusations made about me and challenge the Vietnamese government to produce actual evidence to prove its allegations.
In this modern age, the Vietnamese communist regime needs to immediately stop its random detentions and arbitrary accusations. The perpetuation of the system of rule that exists today, the unjust treatment and crushing of dissent, only exposes the real face of this regime to its citizens and the international court of opinion.
Sincerely,
Nguyen Van Be
Sydney, Australia
