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Viewing cable 08HOCHIMINHCITY235, PATRIOTS AND PUNDITS SOUND OFF VIA BLOGS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08HOCHIMINHCITY235 2008-03-05 11:58 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Ho Chi Minh City
VZCZCXRO5840
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH
DE RUEHHM #0235/01 0651158
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051158Z MAR 08
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3828
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 2555
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 4050
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HO CHI MINH CITY 000235 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/AWH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SOCI PREL PHUM VM
SUBJECT: PATRIOTS AND PUNDITS SOUND OFF VIA BLOGS 
 
REF: 07 HCMC 1266 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000235  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: As the number of Vietnamese with access to the 
Internet skyrockets, personal weblogs (blogs) have rapidly 
become an increasingly widespread alternative public news 
source.  Blogs go well beyond even the feistiest print and 
electronic media, airing unprecedented criticism of the 
Government of Vietnam's (GVN) performance.  Not only do blogs 
serve as a rallying point for reformers and dissident political 
groups pushing for reform, they also appeal to a broad, well 
educated and influential main stream audience.  One of the most 
surprising aspects of the political blog movement is that 
relatively few bloggers have suffered serious repercussions for 
their work even though publication of the same sentiments in the 
Vietnamese press remains unthinkable.  While some of the more 
daring blogs, such as those that openly challenge the Communist 
Party's leadership role, have prompted the GVN and National 
Assembly to consider measures to regulate blogs, the blogs also 
have a number of influential followers who agree that little can 
be done to turn back the clock now.  End summary. 
 
Blog Explosion 2007 
------------------- 
2. (U) Almost unheard of just a few years ago, blogs moved into 
Vietnam's social and political mainstream in 2007, with both 
domestic media and GVN agencies estimating that there were 3 
million Vietnamese bloggers online by the end of 2007.  The blog 
explosion began in late 2006 after the introduction of "Yahoo 
360" allowed millions of Vietnamese users of Yahoo mail to set 
up free blogs and turn their existing Yahoo contacts into blog 
"friends" with a few key clicks.  Not all blogs are public; 
bloggers can choose either to open their blog up to anyone 
surfing the net or limit it to only to those people in their 
friends list. In addition to Yahoo 360, many Vietnamese also use 
other free blog hosting sites such as Google's Blogspot.  Still 
others keep blogs on systems sponsored by domestic providers 
such as "Yobanbe" (colloquial equivalent of Friendster) and 
"Timnhanh" (Fast Search).  Local experts predict Vietnamese 
users will continue to increase their use of community networks 
like Mash, Facebook and Friendster since the Internet backbone 
capacity in Vietnam "doubles every six months," according to a 
prominent online news contact.  With Vietnam's international 
connectivity set to expand as well, access to blogs continues to 
mushroom. 
 
Beginning Of Civic Journalism? 
------------------------------ 
3. (SBU) Blogging is not just for amateurs. Prominent reporters 
and editors of at least six national newspapers write very 
popular blogs, some of which boast over 600,000 "page views" 
("page views" count visits more accurately than "hits") after 
being posted only a few months. For many bloggers, blog entries 
appear to serve as alternate news and information sources on a 
variety of topics, including new laws and policies, crime 
reports, major scandals and criticism of GVN performance. 
Reflecting an attitude that we believe is typical of many 
political bloggers, one prominent journalist/blogger told the CG 
that he posts information on his blog that he believes would be 
censored out of his newspaper. 
 
4. (SBU) Blogs can energize the public in ways that the GVN 
condones as well as in ways it does not.  In late September 
2007, for example, blogs were flooded with entries with the 
latest information and calls for donations after a major bridge 
construction accident in the Mekong Delta left 54 people dead. 
In addition to organizing assistance, however, many bloggers 
also questioned the authorities' management of the crisis and 
tried to pinpoint responsibility for the disaster. 
 
5. (SBU) In Vietnam today, bloggers continue to push boundaries 
almost daily, including by engaging in unprecedented 
finger-pointing at the country's ruling elite.  In April 2007, 
for example, a popular music composer called on the Deputy Prime 
Minister (DPM)/Education Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan to resign 
after a public outcry over what was perceived as the overly 
harsh treatment of a twelve-year-old primary school pupil who 
was accused of theft.  Other bloggers jumped into the fray when 
Nhan proved to be rather thin-skinned in response to a published 
article criticizing new school fees introduced by the DPM. 
Bloggers have even targeted State President Nguyen Minh Triet, 
heaping on criticism after Triet reportedly pressured newspapers 
to print his letter to students on the occasion of the new 
school year.  Yet other blogs have carried their campaign 
straight to security services via a series of stories about the 
glamorously opulent lifestyle of the Hanoi Ministry of Public 
Security's (MPS) director's son -- stories that include 
information on the car he drives, the restaurants he frequents 
and the girls he dates. 
 
6. (SBU) Blogs played a major role in stirring up Vietnamese 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000235  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
public opinion over China's late 2007 decision to establish a 
nominal administrative unit in the disputed Spratly and Paracel 
islands.  In what eventually snowballed into a series of public 
protests, bloggers wrapped themselves in the Vietnamese flag and 
browbeat their own government for not "standing up to" the 
Chinese.  Among the more memorable blog entries generated by the 
Spratly and Paracels dispute was a piece by the Deputy 
Editor-in-Chief of a popular HCMC-based newspaper in which he 
not only recalled, for the first time in 30 years, the 1974 
battle waged by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) navy 
against the Chinese in the Paracels (reftel), but also went on 
to laud the South Vietnamese naval officers as "defenders of the 
motherland."  Another blogger commenting on the same events 
decried the perceived timidity of the official GVN response to 
the Chinese moves, writing that MFA spokesman Le Dung conveyed 
the voice of GVN regarding its claim of sovereignty over the 
islands but never conveyed the voice of the people. 
 
 
A Rallying Point For Reforms... 
------------------------------- 
7. (SBU) Reform-minded Vietnamese -- including some political 
leaders -- use blogs to voice their ideas on how reforms should 
move ahead in Vietnam.  In his blog, outspoken National Assembly 
member Duong Trung Quoc publicized his strong views on reforming 
National Assembly sessions in order for the parliament to 
discuss constituents' issues "in depth" and spend more time 
focusing on "the country's important issues."  Le Cong Dinh, a 
pro-democracy lawyer in the HCMC Bar Association, told us that 
his group of pro-reform young lawyers routinely uses blogs to 
exchange information, engaging in discussions of such 
politically taboo subjects as constitutional reform and the 
establishment of a constitutional court. 
 
... And Also For Political Dissent 
---------------------------------- 
8. (SBU) A sizable and tech-savvy new generation of dissidents 
is also using blogs as a primary means of communication.  On 
January 19, in spite of the GVN's official discouragement, an 
anti-China protest focusing on human rights and the Olympics 
broke out in downtown HCMC.  Despite being dispersed after just 
20 minutes with several participants detained for questioning, 
photos and articles about the protest immediately appeared in 
blogs that reach a world-wide audience.  Pictures and entries 
about previous anti-China demonstrations also flooded the blog 
community.  In much the same way that the spread of e-mail and 
mobile phone usage improved communications between dissidents in 
the past by allowing them to bypass easily monitored phone 
lines, blogs are now being used to bypass the censorship that 
limits traditional media outlets.  While some public blogs 
attract staggering numbers of readers, some dissidents' choose 
to keep all or part of their blogs "private" by limiting access 
to their list of contacts -- in effect creating a virtual 
dissident community network. 
 
9. (SBU) There is no question that bloggers are moving into 
forbidden territory.  Blogger and computer engineer Nguyen Tien 
Trung openly advertises his membership in the banned Democratic 
Party of Vietnam (DPV) and brazenly criticizes the GVN in his 
personal blog which has become a virtual meeting place for 
members of Viet Youth for Democracy and the DPV. 
"Ykienblog.wordpress.com" (Opinionblog), initially a personal 
weblog that carried pro-democracy articles and updates on the 
dissident community, has now become a forum for other Vietnamese 
users to express their views.  In her well-publicized blog, 
award-winning movie director Song Chi questioned the rationale 
of Article 4 in Vietnam's Constitution -- the article which 
gives the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) supreme leadership 
over the government.  While three members of the dissident 
People's Democratic Party were sentenced to jail in 2007 for 
"propagandizing against the government" for advocating the 
abolition of Article 4, Chi remains free. 
 
Blog Control--Mission Impossible? 
---------------------------------- 
10. (SBU) Not all of the blog activity in Vietnam has been of a 
socially responsible or civic-minded nature.  In late 2007, a 
popular singer in HCMC sued a reporter for a city "security" 
newspaper for slander after the reporter published an entry full 
of negative comments regarding the singer's latest show on her 
blog.  Fallout over the personal attacks on the singer even led 
the newspaper to distance itself from the reporter.  Not 
surprisingly, authorities have also uncovered several 
pornographic blogs as well as blogs used as a point of contact 
for prostitution.  Harsh blog entries criticizing Nguyen Cong 
Khe, the Editor in Chief of one of Vietnam's leading pro-reform 
dailies, for his close ties to HCMC Party Secretary Hai and 
President Triet appear to have turned this otherwise pro-reform 
figure into a leading anti-blog advocate who has personally 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000235  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
lobbied the GVN to step up controls on bloggers.  Khe is among 
those pushing the Ministry of Information and Communication to 
speed up drafting a government regulation on blog control.  To 
date, it's unclear what the regulation will entail and when it 
will come into effect. 
 
11. (SBU) In a September 2007 media interview, Deputy Minister 
of Information and Communication Do Quy Doan asserted that a 
blog is a "double-edged knife" and that blog regulation needs to 
have a "preventative effect."  Leaving the specifics to law 
drafting experts, Mr. Doan suggested that bloggers must not 
publish, among other things, "information against the country 
[that] divides national unity and infringes upon the dignity and 
credibility of individuals and organizations."  While Doan 
emphasized that blog regulation would not be in the form of 
administrative control but would instead serve as a "facilitator 
for blog development," the phrases he used are taken almost 
verbatim from the laws most frequently used to convict political 
dissidents.  While members of the blog community as well as 
their supporters continue to argue against any attempt to 
control blogs, they also contend that such efforts are as 
impractical as they are misdirected since regulating blogs -- 
the majority of which are hosted on overseas servers -- would be 
nearly impossible. 
 
Comment 
------- 
12. (SBU) The fact that many bloggers are now posting exactly 
the same things that dissidents went to jail for saying in 
public over the past few years shows the role that the Internet 
is playing in pushing the envelope on freedom of speech and the 
domestic political debate.  Rather than attempting to hide their 
identities, the bloggers cited by name in this report proudly 
sign their blogs and often even post their photos on the main 
page. The fact that so many of these politically-charged blogs 
are in the "public sphere" (meaning anyone can find and read 
them on the Internet) also shows that many bloggers are battling 
the system in a surprisingly open manner. It will be interesting 
to see how the GVN tries to handle this "double-edged knife." 
Intimidation of individual bloggers has been attempted, but to 
little effect. Critics say point-of-access control would not 
work, since previous GVN attempts to force internet cafes to 
register user IDs and store data have not been effectively 
enforced. The possibility of a Chinese-style wholesale clampdown 
on blogs is also unlikely, given the propensity for a huge 
public outcry as well as recognition within other parts of the 
national leadership that Vietnam needs the type of rapid 
technological advancement that is almost impossible without a 
functioning Internet.  While the road ahead for bloggers will 
almost certainly be quite bumpy and at times dangerous, we 
believe that pioneers of the Vietnamese blogosphere have 
technology and time on their side.  End comment. 
 
13. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Hanoi. 
FAIRFAX