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Rights to freedom of speech and press, and access to information and citizens’ obligations (Part 2 and end)

20/6/18
2. Resolutely combating and seriously handling the act of misusing the right to freedom of speech and press. Recent years have seen the emergence of so-called “non-violent protest” and “crowd effect” by some “dissidents”. The violations of Vietnamese laws by “dissidents” have been circulated and supported by the Western media through repeated rhetoric, saying that Vietnam has “suppressed the right to freedom of speech, the press, and the Internet” and infringed “human rights”, etc. Those are irrational and blatant since there is no legal provision on so-called “dissidents” by the Western press in Vietnamese laws. As a result, there is no legal provision on an offence against “dissidents”. Yet, in reality, some self-proclaimed “dissidents” abused the right to freedom of speech to spread distorted contents in a bid to oppose our State and socialist regime on the Internet, namely Vu Quang Thuan, Nguyen Van Dien, Tran Hoang Phuc, Tran Thi Nga, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, etc. who merited heavy prison sentences for “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 88, the Penal Code (1999). They had to pay the price for abusing freedom of speech and the press to infringe Vietnamese laws. Before the court, they argued that they had just been “dissidents”, lawfully fighting for justice in a “non-violent” manner. That was not totally the case in practice. They had posted many videos and clips on the Internet, defaming governments, fabricating news, and distorting the truth; taking advantage of freedom and democracy rights to infringe upon national interests, legal rights and benefits of organisations and citizens in society. In other words, those “dissidents” had been seriously penalized for their violations of the law.
Globally, the realities have shown that rebellions against a regime usually break out in stages, commencing with “non-violent” protests, then evolving into order and security disruptions via “crowd effect”, and finishing with rebellions against local to central governments. Moreover, the leaders of those rebellions also call for the intervention of foreign forces. This is a “classic script” of rebellious activities that have happened in some countries in recent decades.
For our nation, hostile forces have fully abused the right to freedom of speech, especially the right to Internet access to slander and defame the leadership role of ruling Communist Party of Vietnam and oppose our State and socialist regime via blatant and misleading statements, namely “Hanoi regime is authoritarian and dictatorial”; the Communist Party of Vietnam “dominates” people’s power and “above the law”, etc. Like international laws, the law on freedom of speech is always intended to protect social regimes. According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all peoples have the right of self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Accordingly, peoples have the right of self-determination to their political regime of choice; the law of every nation stipulates its citizens’ rights and obligations. Furthermore, the law is always political, historical, and culturally distinctive. In our country, the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam is enshrined in Article 4 of the 2013 Constitution, and recognized by the National Assembly, the highest representative body of the People and the highest body of State power. The Party is not merely the leading force of the State and society, but serves the People, submits to People’s supervision, and operates within the framework of the Constitution and the law. In terms of political system, pursuant to Article 2 of the 2013 Constitution, 1. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a socialist rule of law State of the People, by the People and for the People; 2. The people are the masters of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; all state powers belong to the people whose foundation is the alliance between the working class, the peasantry and the intelligentsia; 3. The State powers are unified and delegated to state bodies, which shall collaborate with and control one another in the exercise of the legislative, executive and judiciary powers”. Distortions of advocating “multi-party political system” and adopting Western-style “separation of power” model are not only an artifice of defaming our regime, but an immature awareness of diversity of social models across the world today.
Taken together, in theoretical, legal, and practical terms, Vietnamese laws have been squared with international regulations on human rights; respected and guaranteed human rights in general, and the rights to freedom of speech, press, and access to information in particular. Citizens’ rights and obligations to the exercise of the rights to freedom of speech, press, and access to information are not only unified, but closely correlated. Citizens who wish to fully exercise the rights to freedom of speech, press, and access to information must have an obligation to abide by the provisions of the law in order to protect social regimes, State, and other people’s rights and interests. On the contrary, these rights are restricted or deprived of in the event of law violations.


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