Panel discussion on Vietnam's abusive treatment of ethnic Montagnards banned by NCPO

[Lite Beer]

Panel discussion on Vietnam's abusive treatment of ethnic Montagnards banned by NCPO
Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation

A PRESS conference organised by Human Rights Watch to highlight the plight of a Vietnamese minority group was banned from taking place at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok yesterday after the authorities said staging it could affect good relations between Thailand and Vietnam.

HRW staff in Bangkok said the move, the first against the New York-based group, was a new low for the military regime when it came to restricting freedom of expression.

"It reaffirms the National Council for Peace and Order's intention to shut down space to report the human rights situation. This time it's not just about Thailand but Vietnam," HRW Thailand senior researcher Sunai Phasuk told The Nation, adding that Thailand has now joined the league of authoritarian regimes.

"Thailand is going to be known as a defender of human rights violations in Asean," he said.

In a police letter the authorities "requested cooperation" from HRW by "refraining" from detailing the report - "Persecuting 'Evil Way' Religion: Abuse against Montagnards in Vietnam" - because doing so would impact negatively on national security and may effect bilateral relations with Hanoi.

The letter was hand-delivered to the FCCT and HRW representatives at the club shortly before 10.30am, when the press conference was due to start.

The letter, signed by Lumpini Police Station superintendent Colonel Pornchai Chalordet and addressed to HRW, was politely worded and ended with the hope that it results in the "receiving of cooperation as usual" and a thank you to the HRW.

HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson was visibly upset and said the move came as a surprise.

He said he spoke to Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee on the phone and was told Thailand had a special relationship with Vietnam and there would be a senior delegation from Vietnam visiting Thailand in three weeks.

Sek was not available for comment at press time.

HRW issued a statement saying it was disappointed with the cancellation.

"By stepping in to defend a neighbouring state's human rights violations against a group of its people and interrupting a scheduled press conference, Thailand's military junta is violating freedom of assembly and demonstrating its contempt for freedom of the press," it said.

The club, in a statement, said: "From the perspective of the FCCT, it was a routine press event and part of any normally functioning media environment … The situation of the Montagnards in Vietnam is a subject of legitimate international public interest."

Three Vietnamese reporters were present when the event was cancelled.

A female Vietnamese journalist, asked what she thought of the move, just said: "I don't make anything [of it]. Don't interview me."

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Panel-discussion-on-Vietnams-abusive-treatment-of--30263255.html

-- The Nation 2015-06-27

[Oziex1]

So thats it, yeah.

Minorities need not apply for decent respectful treatment in the lands of the SE Asian master races.

[ggt]

Thailand's military junta is violating freedom of assembly and demonstrating its contempt for freedom of the press," it said.

The Military Gov't has consistently controlled assemblies and the press...going so far as to "educate" the press as to what is appropriate to ask the PM and arresting those who would assemble...

This is not a democracy...do not expect it to operate as one...

I believe they see themselves as having more in common with the folks in Hanoi than in Washington...

[dru2]

This is a complex and obscure matter.

The problems between the Kinh (Vietnamese) and the various Montagnard groups of the Central Highlands (formerly known to the Kinh as "Moi" or savages) are centuries old. But they were compounded by the American use of Montagnard special forces against the NLF and the NVA during the American/Vietnam War, and subsequently by the armed and continued support for the the Montagnard group FULRO (Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races) long after Vietnamese reunification in 1975. FULRO forces were secretly trained in Thailand by joint US-Thai instructors and used in an attempt to destabilize newly reunified Vietnam.

All the "religious persecution" hocus-pocus spouted against Vietnam by successive US administrations is also closely related - Hanoi has no real problems with Catholicism nowadays, but is well aware of the destabilizing influence of American Protestant born again missionaries among the Montagnards of the Central Highlands, which is why these meddlesome trouble makers remained banned.

Thai involvement in these activities - long before Prayuth, Thaksin or even Suchinda - is a can or worms that the Thai authorities would prefer not to open.

Edited June 27, 2015 by dru2

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[BudRight]

If you want an "explanation" for the U.S. human rights report, this one is very explanatory by way of example.

[oneday]

...and the days keep getting darker.

[Benmart]

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."

Harry S. Truman

[Jimlove]

"Thailand is going to be known as a defender of human rights violations in Asean," he said."

Please tell me he didnt say that ... Talk about the wolf guarding the sheep - Absolutely no end the stupid statements here, plenty of material for stand-up comedians ... Idiocy at its worst ...