The Central Inspection Committee of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has decided to keep the disciplinary exclusion from the party to Mr. Bui Tien Loi. It dismissed his appeal. The reason stated by this committee is that during the time of his position as head of the Department of Social Social Science, School of Military Engineering, Mr. Loi had articles and speeches on social networks contrary to the viewpoints and directions of the CPV and the State, expressing the serious recession of political ideology, “self-evolution,” and “self-transformation” so that the hostile forces take advantage to oppose the party and the regime.
According to some observers, the main reason for Mr. Loi being disciplined is his statement in military uniform: “Never think that we have historical data that we can claim of sea, continental shelf, islands as ours … so someone said, that the East Sea (South China Sea) is of Vietnam, the Truong Sa (Spratlys) are of Vietnam, those are propaganda contrary to international law, not true to UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982.”
On May 6, 2020, Mr. Loi posted a video clip on his youtube account. In this video, Mr. Loi asserts that, before reflecting on the sea and islands, he had to study deeply historical documents and he spoke on the basis of actual sea and islands at the present time. He determined his statements were oriented:
“I assert this statement is not a non-directional statement. This statement is from the official source. We have been trained and taught for four or five years now. But just because of negligence, it’s not the right object for a few tens of seconds, I have to receive a sentence that you cannot imagine. I have never seen it myself and cannot imagine it. I firmly believe that the world never imagined it to this extent. ”
According to journalist Vo Van Tao, a senior officer like that who was disciplined for speaking contrary to the party line, the State is rare:
“The story of Senior Lieutenant Colonel Bui Tien Loi, a member of the military’s propaganda organization, systematically trained, with salary and expertise distorting the facts to poison the people, but now being disciplined which causes shocked public opinion in Vietnam.
I think that is the rule. The people they awoke to. Online combatants are required by their superiors to have access to various sources of information. From there they gradually approached the truth. Everyone, if there is a conscience, must someday enlighten to the true teacher, must speak the truth, speak the right things.”
For observer Nguyen Ngoc Gia, the story of Mr. Loi being disciplined is understandable. The paradox here is that Mr. Loi again made a complaint but the Central Inspection Committee upheld its decision. He explained:
“Firstly, when the CPV attributes Mr. Bui Tien Loi to articles and speeches on social media that are contrary to the Party’s views and policies, it is true that he was expelled from the Party. That is inevitable.
Secondly, Mr. Loi was expelled in the situation of domestic and foreign affairs today which is understandable. The situation in the East Sea was so hot that Mr. Loi spoke while in military uniform, that is, he officially spoke out the opinion of a CPV member. The party sees this as a dangerous thing.”
Discipline to set an example?
The Central Inspection Committee report published in early 2020 showed that, in 2019, the Party Committees and the Inspection Committees at all levels enforced the discipline of 1,111 party organizations, 18,265 cadres at all levels and 54,573 ordinary members. In particular, the Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat enforce the discipline of 8 party organizations, 45 party members, and the Central Inspection Commission enforces the discipline of 111 party members, including 92 cadres who are under supervision of the Central Committee.
With the discipline of one party member, the army senior lieutenant colonel because of the online statement contrary to the views and guidelines of the party, journalist Vo Van Tao thinks this is a deterrent to other party members in Force 47 (military online commentators):
“I think that the handling of Mr. Bui Tien Loi is to prevent other cases from following his downfall from the perspective of the AK47 propaganda force, public opinion shapers. Take this as a ballast.”
Mr. Gia said that this is an opportunity to consolidate and correct the ideology of the current party members, according to CPV’s General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s warning from the past few years:
“Since 2017, Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong has introduced the concept of ‘party members losing political interest.’ I think the removal of Mr. Bui Tien Loi from the party is a form of warning for other members. When you want to say something, you have to adjust and have the opinion of some superiors.
Moreover, the impact of the death of Mr. Le Dinh Kinh, in my opinion, is the great ideological shaking among the party members, especially retired party members. The purpose of Mr. Loi’s exclusion is to consolidate and rectify the ideas of the current party members.”
At the 11th National Congress of the Youth Communist Delegation for the 2017-2022 term opening on December 11, 2017 in Hanoi, Mr. Trong said that the delegation’s work and the youth movement last term were still limited. A part of the youths has diminished their faith, faded the revolutionary ideal, pragmatic life, away from the fine traditions of the nation. Even a small number of young people are enticed, there are jobs that go against the tradition of the union, contrary to the goals of the party, of the nation.
Back to Mr. Loi being disciplined, writer Pham Dinh Trong, who had worked for many years in the army, has an article posted on his Facebook entitled “Pathetic public opinion” in which he affirmed that Mr. Loi cannot say different with the party’s direction, contrary to the views and policies of the party and the state. RFA has requested permission to use the following excerpt:
“Is not. The senior officer of the military opinion corps did not say anything wrong, say nothing with his own sense of protest. He just said the opinion of the public opinion shapers that became contrary to the opinion of the Communist Party and the senior officer of Force 47 was severely disciplined, lost political life because of his honesty and innocence.
Through the discipline of senior public opinion shapers Bui Tien Loi, we realize that what Mr. Loi said the East Sea does not belong to Vietnam, Spratlys does not belong to Vietnam. Saying the East Sea and Spratlys belong to Vietnam is propaganda contrary to international law, not in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, which is what the Force 47 is indoctrinated, taught to fight against the patriotic voice which defends Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty in the East Sea, in Hoang Sa (Paracels), and Truong Sa.”
Thoibao.de (Translated)
Vietnamese Source: https://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/in_depth/around-the-expulsion-of-a-military-lieutenant-colonel-dt-07222020153539.html
