The beginning of General Secretary To Lam’s so-called “era of national rise” is the trial of former member of Vietnam’s highest legislative body National Assembly (NA) Luu Binh Nhuong.
Nhuong himself is also a subject of controversy on social networks, with many people accusing him and many defending him. What is the reason?
Nhuong was accused by the authorities of “extortion of property.” However, many people expressed skepticism about this charge. They believe that Nhuong is only a national legislator, not holding any real position in the government apparatus, like many other colleagues. He is only a deputy of the NA’s Petition Committee – a position that is just for “show.”
If you want to “extort property” from someone, first of all, you must be a person with real power. Even if there is no real power in the government, there must be real power over the “social” world, that is, there must be a strong enough gang to “make the law.” Therefore, the authorities’ accusation of “extortion” against Nhuong is not convincing.
However, once it is the will of the senior officials, no lawyer can exonerate the defendant.
Those who still believe in the regime will criticize and even accuse Nhuong. Those who have independent thinking and use logical thinking to analyze tend to doubt the authorities’ motives towards him. These people believe that Nhuong did not commit a crime or was not capable of committing a crime.
But in this regime, “the government is never wrong.”
Remember, in 2015, at a meeting of the NA’s Standing Committee, Le Thi Thu Ba – Deputy Head of the Central Judicial Reform Steering Committee, reflected that, due to the unclear principle of presumption of innocence, there were cases in which people had been arrested and had to be tried and sentenced in accordance with the crime that the victim was accused of. That proves that this regime still arbitrarily arrests people and accuses them of crimes. This is a problem that this regime cannot overcome, because thanks to it, the authorities make the people afraid, regardless of whether the people understand the law or not.
It can be said that Luu Binh Nhuong is the last person in the parliament to speak up for the people. Those who used to speak up similarly, such as Duong Trung Quoc, Truong Trong Nghia, etc., are no longer NA members.
It is not known whether Nhuong’s charge is as the authorities have accused or not because many analysts believe that this is a case with political motives. If there is a political motive, then being convicted in court is just an excuse, in essence, the authorities want to eliminate another problem.
So what is that problem?
Nhuong used to be the Deputy Head of Economic Law at Hanoi Law University. He is considered by many lawyers to be a true intellectual, who understands the law and dares to speak directly before the rubber-stamped parliament.
Initially, the authorities wanted to put people like Nhuong up to paint a democratic atmosphere for the NA. They know clearly that a few individual voices cannot change the decisions that need to be approved by the parliament. However, in the age of the Internet, social networks have made Nhuong’s dissenting voice spread, making them afraid. In particular, Nhuong is not afraid to touch on wrongful convictions, such as Ho Duy Hai, Nguyen Van Chuong, etc.
With the sentencing of Nhuong, it is certain that from now on, no legislator will dare to criticize the government. That is the message that incumbent party chief To Lam wants to send to the national legislators.
Attacking Nhuong, Lam has forced 500 “nodding NA members” to enter the “cage” framework he created. Only then will his policies achieve high consensus.
Tran Chuong – Thoibao.de
