LETTER OF BLOC 8406
TO THE LEADERS OF APEC NATIONS
TO THE LEADERS OF APEC NATIONS
Viet Nam, August 15, 2006
Honorable Leaders of APEC Nations,
Last April 8, 2006, we, Vietnamese citizens living in Viet Nam, have made public a Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy in Viet Nam in 2006 and brought it to the attention of public opinion both domestically and internationally. For that reason we call ourselves the Bloc 8406.
We understand that in November this year, leaders of countries belonging to APEC are going to have a summit meeting in Viet Nam with the aim of coordinating governmental action so as to boost cooperation and economic development, foster multilateral trade freedom and fair development within the APEC nations. We are delighted to welcome you to our country and have much hope for the things that you will bring to the people of APEC nations as well as to our country, Viet Nam.
On this occasion, we hope that you would pay attention to a number of problems relating to the political, economic and social situation of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam :
1- You are dealing and cooperating with one of very few remaining one-party and dictatorial regimes left on this planet, in which the Legislative (National Assembly), Judiciary (the Courts), and Executive (the Government), as well as the Public Security and Military Forces, the Press and state-approved Religions are all instruments of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV). This one-party monopoly is established in Article 4 of the current Vietnamese Constitution, which makes sure that the current Regime has no competition and no fear of being replaced. Resolution No. 1481 of the European Parliament dated January 25, 2006, has addressed the central issues of such a Regime.
A most recent and typical illustration is in April this year when, right after the CPV Congress was held, who would become the Chairman of the National Assembly, the President of the Country, and the new Prime Minister were popularly and accurately known. That was confirmed two months later by the rubber stamp National Assembly when it was forced to approve these positions through a formal vote in June 2006.
2- You are dealing and cooperating with a regime where the National Assembly - the highest Authority Body that seems to be established according to democratic principles - consists of nothing but representatives unelected by the People but picked out beforehand by the CPV. They represent only the CPV and not the Vietnamese People. It is a rubber stamp body which knows nothing but nodding and passing policies, lines, laws and ordinances advocated by the CPV and in accordance with instructions coming from the Politburo, even when these policies, lines, laws and ordinances may be ambiguous or plainly wrong, causing irreparable damages to our People. That is why it is impossible for you to hear the true voices of our People. In such circumstances, your cooperation is not likely to become a positive factor bringing development, happiness, fulfillment, and progress to the APEC People as well as the Vietnamese People.
3- You are dealing and cooperating with a regime that is stubbornly forcing the country into an economic model known as “a market economy with socialist orientation.” This is a model full of contradictions unheard of in the history of economics. It is nothing but a product of small minds, dishonesty, arbitrariness, conservatism and force feeding. The reality has shown that this product is only a savage capitalist economy that brings enormous profits to only high-level CPV members. On the contrary, it brings nothing but misery to the majority of the People, thus ever widening the gap between rich and poor, with the average per capita income of the Vietnamese no higher than $500 a year is a clear proof. In such circumstances, your economic cooperation with a government like that cannot bring about the meaningful results that our People wish for. This devious regime which is corrupt from top to bottom does not usually respect its commitments to the international community that creates high risks and extremely adventurous prospects for foreign investors. Using ineffectively FDI and ODA sources and foreign loans makes a huge debt which in the end we, the Vietnamese People, and our offsprings - no one else - will have to repay.
4- You are dealing and cooperating with a government that is reputedly brutal and tyrannical, among the worst in the world, one that in the past untill now has been heartlessly repressing Religions in Viet Nam, so that for several years now the U.S. government has had to put and keep it in the CPC (Countries of Particular Concern) list. The fact that the Vietnamese government, even today, continues to repress, control, and turn the Religions of Viet Nam - symbols of moral and spiritual values - into instruments for its exploitation certainly cannot be helpful to stabilize the society, develop the culture and expand economic cooperation. On the contrary, those CPV’s actions only make People more devious, more irrespective of international commitments and trade agreements (as can be seen in the PMU 18 and the Viet Nam Airlines scandals, or the Trinh Vinh Binh case). In such situation, the common People, by its deep concience, has been knocked away the foundations of ethics - such as truthfulness and faithfulness - of the people tradition that took thousands of years of civilization to build up - something that obviously was the result of monumental exertions by the Religions.
5- You are dealing with and cooperating with a government that not so long ago promulgated Decree 38 (effective 3 April 2005) in order to control and drastically restrict the people’s freedom of assembly and demonstration and Decree 56 (effective 1 July 2006) to control, interfere and restrict to the utmost the people’s freedoms of thought, information and opinion. The present-day one-way propaganda system of the government of Viet Nam is only meant to propagate news that are favorable to the CPV so as to cover up errors and mistake, crimes even of the political system, of high-ranking but evil party members, and to lock out truthful, honest and constructive voices of the Vietnamese ; and to deceive the people all over the world and avoid honest and necessary international pressure .
Honorable Leaders,
Above is only a number of essential reminders that we sincerely and honestly send to you. It is our hope that you find yourselves in agreement with us while helping us in realistic ways, thus contributing to boosting the democratization of Viet Nam, helping our country to soon integrate into the civilized human community in the fastest possible way. We consider that: only real democratization, with the existence of a pluralistic, multiparty regime, and fair law, can establish the foundation, the conditions which are the basic premises of a correct and sustainable development path for Viet Nam what the dictatorial one-party Vietnamese government has been discovered and has itself admitted that it is failed, and coming to totally death end. So that, this regime will absolutely be replaced.
We are also respectfully enclosing 4 documents :
- Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Viet Nam in 2006, which is abbreviated to Manifesto 8406.
- Declaration of Bloc 8406 on the 10 Fundamental Conditions for the Election of a truly free, democratic and multiparty National Assembly in 2007, so that the People of Viet Nam would not have to boycott in large scale which is abbreviated to 10 Conditions for the National Assembly Election.
- Progress to democratise Viet Nam in 4 stages & 8 steps declared by Bloc 8406 on August 22, 2006
- Summary of Domestic & Overseas Peaceful Democratic Fighters and Sponsors of Manifesto 8406 from April 8 to August 15, 2006.
We would like to thank for and sincerely appreciate your concern, approval and support for our cause !
And we wish for the great success of the APEC Summit !
Interim Representatives of Bloc 8406
Consisting of tens of thousands of Domestic
and Overseas Peaceful Democratic Fighters Do Nam Hai, Engineer, Saigon
Tran Anh Kim, Former Army Officer, Thai Binh
Nguyen Van Ly, Catholic Priest, Hue
