|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Mongolian former PM Elbegdorj Tsakhia voices
support for democracy in Vietnam Please could you describe your views on Vietnam and its communist regime? Vietnam is a beautiful country with a rich history and culture and hospitable, intelligent people. The Vietnamese people have the potential to make Vietnam one of the Asian tigers, if it can become a democratic country with an open market economy. The only trigger that limits Vietnam’s potential is its communist regime, which suffocates freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of free thinking, which are the motivations and bases of creativity and initiatives. Creativity and initiatives become the base of development and accelerate development. Vietnam’s communist regime is one of the few communist regimes left on earth today. As we know, the communist regimes of the world have already proved that their flaws and mistakes far outweigh their advantages. The communist regime worsens itself like a dead fish. The whole world knows, sees and feels the brutality of Vietnam’s communist regime no matter how much it conceals its violence against Vietnamese dissidents who want a democratic and free society for Vietnam and its people. I know there are some people in the communist regime who want a free and open society for Vietnam. I appeal them to unite and contribute to change Vietnam into a democratic society, and to engrain their names in Vietnam’s history by their great deeds for a better future. The Vietnamese people, who want democracy, need your help. Please help. What is your view of the work of the democracy movement in Vietnam? The democracy movement in Vietnam has been doing the best work for all Vietnamese, struggling to bring democracy and freedom to Vietnam. Vietnam’s dissidents are the ones who risk their lives and careers and devote their work and for the betterment of Vietnam and the Vietnamese. As someone who led the struggle against communism in Mongolia, and a democratically elected Prime Minister yourself, what advice can you give Vietnamese people in their struggle against communism? Please never lose hope or the belief that a better, free future is not far away for Vietnam. You can establish a free society in Vietnam by cooperating towards it. You can do it and everybody who believes freedom is the best way is ready to help you in any way needed. Some people say that so-called ‘Asian values’ should take precedence over democracy, and that outsiders should get their own houses in order before talking about other countries. What is your opinion about this? Good question. Democracy is a right inherent to every single person, every human being was born with the right to express his or her opinion freely. Therefore, democracy is bigger and more powerful than ‘Asian values.’ Western countries are supporting and helping former communist countries to become democratic ones and this has been a great help for transitional countries to adapt their societies towards the ideals of free and open ones. On the other hand, in this globalizing and shrinking world outsiders have to help other countries to develop, co-exist and cooperate peacefully. When western countries work to perfect their own societies, simultaneously they are trying to help Asian countries. This is the perfect solution for both the West and East. How has Mongolia changed since becoming a democracy? How has life changed for Mongolians? Mongolia became a free and open society with a market economy in 1989. In Mongolia at present, everybody has the right to freely express their opinions and make demonstrations in any public square, including the main square in our capital city, Ulaanbaatar. The most recent example was between November 6 and 8, when there was held a three day rally of the ‘All People’s Assembly’, organised by the United Front of all civil movements, in the main Sukhbaatar Square in the capital. In the freezing cold weather around 16,000 people from ten provinces came with their will to express their opinions for and against the government, parliament and the president, and they fulfilled their wishes to express their opinions for the country. There was no arrest and no fear, although most of them made radical speeches. Mongolians travel freely to any country in the world and study in developed countries, and we can afford many things we couldn’t have had during Mongolia’s time under socialism. There has been development and a boom in intellectual potential in Mongolia since it became a democratic country. The GDP growth rate was 10.6% in 2004 and 6.2% in 2005. What are the challenges ahead for Mongolia? The challenges ahead for Mongolia are to perfect Mongolian laws to adapt them for the fast growth and development of Mongolia, particularly for the mining sector, and to eliminate poverty and develop Mongolia further to make it another Asian tiger. You have spoken about the need for democracy in Burma. What about dictatorships in Southeast Asia in general; how are they interconnected? All dictatorships in Southeast Asia need to help their people by accepting and working towards democracy. Dictatorship is not a human value, so it is artificial. Therefore any interconnections between dictatorships are artificial, not strong and cannot last long. How do you see the future for Southeast Asia, its politics and its people? What about the East Asian region in general? I see a bright future for Southeast Asia when there is no dictatorship left. Free people can do much more with geometric progress and there will be no limit for people to develop and use their potential in free societies. ASEAN’s activities can be further deepened for the betterment of all Asian countries and their people. I am sure the East Asian region will become a human-friendly region, realising and respecting human rights, free speech and the free expression of its people’s opinions as the fundamental values for its societies. How do you see future relations between Vietnam and Mongolia? Our two countries had good diplomatic relations when both Vietnam and Mongolia were communist states. Since 1990, when Mongolia became a democratic country and Vietnam stayed communist, our policies and ways made us part, although we continue to have a diplomatic relationship. When Vietnam becomes a democratic country, Mongolia’s relationship with Vietnam will deepen, since we would be countries with similar policies. People from our two countries will happily exchange views and opinions in free societies come that time. What are the big challenges facing the people of the region? How can these be overcome? The big challenges are the few dictatorships with communist regimes. These can be changed by collaboration with the countries’ people, who have desires to dismantle these dictatorships and establish free societies. We as free persons in free societies will continue to support people with these desires in any way possible. |
