Day: October 7, 2022

Armed opposition groups have assassinated five former officers in Myanmar’s military, including one believed to have close ties to the vice chairman of the junta, for what they claim is their public support of the regime and as retribution for the execution of prominent pro-democracy activists.

The assassinations — which highlight the increasingly complex idea of “justice” and who defines it in Myanmar’s post-coup chaos — took place over a 10-month period between November 2021 and September this year, RFA Burmese has learned, based on data compiled through local media reports and testimonies from sources with knowledge of the four incidents.

Anti-junta groups killed Navy Lieutenant Commander Thein Aung, the chief financial officer of military-owned telecom company Mytel, on Nov. 4, 2021 in Ma Yan village tract, in Yangon region’s Kungyangon township; Captain Thein Myint, the chairman of the War Veterans Association of Naypyidaw’s Tatkon township, on Jan. 16, 2022; Major Tin Maung Aye on Feb. 3, 2022 in Yangon’s North Dagon township; and Brigadier General Ohn Thwin, the head of the Myanmar War Veterans Association, and his son-in-law, Captain Ye Tayza, on Sept. 24, 2022 in Yangon’s Hlaingtharya township.

The assassination of Ohn Thwin – who had served as Myanmar’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and South Africa – made him the highest-ranking junta target killed by armed opposition groups since Thein Aung in November last year.

Sources say that Ohn Thwin was the mentor of Vice Senior General Soe Win – the junta’s vice chairman and second-in-command – although RFA was unable to independently verify the claim. The Myanmar War Veterans Association, which he ran, is a source of recruits for the junta’s operations to wipe out the country’s armed resistance, according to a report by the Irrawaddy online news journal.

‘Lawless’ acts

Speaking to RFA about the killings, Sayar Kyaung, spokesperson for the anti-junta Yangon Urban Guerrilla Association, said his group is “targeting ex-military officials working for the junta,” and “not every veteran or former officer.”

“Some veterans understand justice. They keep silent [about their opposition to the junta], even though they don’t publicly show support for the people,” he said.

“Others are still working for the junta and standing up for them. We are targeting these kinds of veterans. We believe this is the right thing to do.”

Sayar Kyaung said veterans like Ohn Thwin have “become pillars for the junta and are spreading the wrong messages and ideas to the people.”

He did not provide details about how his group defines “support” for the junta, or “wrong” messages and ideas. It was also unclear who is responsible for making such decisions and ordering the assassinations.

Ohn Thwin was known to denounce officials from the National League for Democracy (NLD), which was ousted by the military in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup, and had posted comments applauding authorities for violently cracking down on peaceful anti-junta protests.

A group known as the Inya Urban Force claimed responsibility for assassinating Ohn Thwin because of “his public support for the junta.” The group has also claimed that it “doesn’t target every military veteran.”

Urban guerrilla groups based in Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw also say their attacks are in response to the junta’s July 25 execution of four democracy activists, including prominent former student leader Ko Jimmy and a former NLD lawmaker. Prior to those executions, which prompted protests at home and condemnation abroad, only three people had been executed in Myanmar in the past 50 years.

However, Thein Tun Oo, executive director of pro-military think-tank Thaynaga Institute for Strategic Studies, composed mostly of ex-military officers, characterized the slaying of military veterans who are no longer actively serving in the military as “an act of cruelty.”

“They may have served in the military in the past. But they are now civilians, as they have retired from their service,” he told RFA.

“We question why they feel the need to kill civilians. There are many questions to answer. Killing veterans without providing a proper reason is a very brutal and murderous act.”

Thein Tun Oo claimed that the junta’s executions of the four democracy activists was “a lawful action taken through the judicial system after moving through the appeals process,” while the killing of former military officers is “lawless.”

Public support

A resident of Yangon, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons, called the assassination of former top military officials like Ohn Thwin “an important step in the fight against the military regime.”

“It is not easy to kill top military officials like that. The assassins must have carefully observed his daily life and meticulously planned for the attack,” she said.

“The assassins are also putting themselves in danger to do that. If they get caught, they will be crushed brutally. They would be killed or get multiple lengthy prison sentences. So, I think this is a very important act in fighting against and getting rid of the military regime.”

Residents of Naypyidaw told RFA that some former military officials from Yangon and Mandalay moved to the capital after the assassination of Ohn Thwin, presumably out of fear for their safety.

Political analyst Than Soe Naing told RFA that while killing former military officers is “not a moral act,” it is “necessary in a revolution.”

“These assassinations by revolutionary fighters will dishearten members of the military and dissolve unity in the military. So, I conclude that this is an indispensable act in the success of a revolution.”

Than Soe Naing said that the assassination of Ohn Thwin sends “a clear message” to the junta’s supporters and others who acted as pillars of the military regime that they are “no longer safe.”

In April, then-Vice Chairman of Myanmar’s Central Bank Than Than Swe, widely seen as pro-military, was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt, when unknown assailants shot her at her apartment complex in Yangon amid a public outcry over a new Central Bank directive ordering the sale of all U.S. dollars and other foreign currency at a fixed rate to licensed banks.

The 55-year-old was sworn in after the military seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup.

Believed to be the most senior junta official to be shot since the takeover, she was severely injured in the incident, but lived.

In August, she was promoted to head the Central Bank amid a shake-up of the bank’s leadership analysts warned was part of a bid by the military regime to assume control of the country’s financial sector and extend its grip on power.

The Yangon Region Military Subdivision Administration, a coalition of anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries and allied guerrilla groups, announced on April 7 that they had carried out a total of 1,128 attacks on military targets over the previous seven months, including the attack on Than Than Swe.

Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) says authorities in Myanmar have killed at least 2,338 civilians in the more than 20 months since last year’s coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.

Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

A Cambodian court on Friday ordered Son Chhay, vice president of the main opposition Candlelight Party, to pay more than U.S.$700,000 in damages for defamation, his lawyer told Radio Free Asia. 

Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or the CPP, and the National Election Committee, a supposedly impartial election monitor, brought two lawsuits against Son Chhay after he talked with a news outlet about election irregularities two days after the country’s commune elections on June 5.

The Candlelight Party took about 19 percent of the country’s 11,622 local council seats in that vote, whereas the CPP captured about 80 percent. 

Son Chay said the results “do not reflect the will of the people, who were intimidated. Their votes were bought and stolen,” Australia’s ABC News reported. And independent election monitors and NGOS reported irregularities.

Those comments earned him defamation charges. In addition to having to pay 3 billion riels (about $726,000) to the ruling party, Son Chay was also slapped with fines totalling 17 million riels (about $4,100) that must be paid to the CPP, the election committee and the court, his lawyer Choung Chou Ngy told RFA’s Khmer Service.

He criticized the decision, saying his client only expressed his political views and did not defame anyone.

“What Son Chhay said was to advocate for election reform but the court convicted him and ordered him to pay 3 billion riels to the CPP. It is very unjust,” he said, adding that he intends to consult with his client about the appeal process.

Son Chhay denied he was guilty of defamation and vowed to continue to criticize the election process until it is reformed.

“What I have done was not to anger anyone or for anyone’s benefit,” he told RFA.  “I talked about free and fair elections. [But] people don’t have freedom. People only express their views and are being arrested for defamation,” he said.

RFA was not able to reach election spokesman Hang Puthea for comment, but the organization issued a statement saying that justice was served. “Through the verdict today, the NEC has been proven innocent, restoring its reputation and dignity as a national institution,” it said.

The court shouldn’t have tried Son Chhay because he has the right to freedom of expression, Yi Soksan, a senior official with the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, told RFA.

“It is sad when a political party files a complaint with the NEC to resolve election issues, and not only do they  fail to resolve the issue, the institution that’s supposed to be a referee instead  files a complaint against the political party,” he said.

Friday’s verdict came amid discussions between Candlelight and the Khmer Will Party party over a potential merger ahead of the 2023 general election, scheduled for July. 

The Khmer Will Party’s president, Kong Monika, said a merger is what the people want, and would set an example for other political parties to prioritize national interest over personal ones. “The Khmer Will Party is the same as the Candlelight Party. We want supporters of democracy to stay united for a positive change,” he told RFA. 

The Candlelight Party is eager to join hands with Khmer Will, Thach Setha, the party’s vice president, told RFA.

Ruling party spokesman Sok Ey San downplayed the significance of the two parties merging. He said that the opposition has still not recovered from 2017, when the Supreme Court dissolved the Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, which at that time had been the main opposition party.

“The CPP is not afraid. The CNRP lost to the CPP. Now the CNRP has split up to at least seven parties, and only two of those will merge so the CPP is not worried,” he said.

The Khmer Will Party did not win any seats in the communal election, garnering only 7,556 votes nationwide.

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. 

The U.N.’s human rights body should not be “used for purposes of political rivalry,” Indonesia said Friday after it voted against a U.S.-led proposal to debate China’s alleged human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur minority.

The 19-17 vote by the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday drew an angry response from Uyghur and other human rights advocates, who accused governments in the voting majority of pandering to China.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic-majority country, was among council members that voted to block discussion of a United Nations report, which found Beijing’s abuses against the Uyghur community could constitute “crimes against humanity.”

Other nations rejecting the proposal included Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. The Gambia, Libya and Malaysia were among 11 countries abstaining.

Achsanul Habib, director of human rights and humanitarian affairs at Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the council should be “an inclusive forum for countries to have impartial dialogue” and “not [be] selective” in its approach to human rights issues.

“We voted ‘no’ because we don’t want the politicization of the Human Rights Council, [for it] to be used for the purpose of political rivalry,” he told a news conference.

“In this regard, Indonesia also cooperates, coordinates and consults with all parties, including with the countries that support [the proposal], with western countries and China.”

The call for discussion followed an August United Nations report that said China’s repression of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

The report said “serious human rights violations” had been committed in XUAR in the context of the Chinese government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism strategies.

Chinese regional authorities are believed to have held close to 2 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a vast network of internment camps since early 2017.

Febrian Ruddyard, Indonesia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, explained the “no” vote by saying the human rights council should focus on building an environment that encourages all countries to fulfill their human rights obligations.

“We believe the approach taken by the council today will not yield meaningful progress … especially because it does not enjoy the consent and support of the concerned country,” he told council members.

“Based on these reasons … we are therefore not in a position to support the draft decision … regarding the convening of a debate on the situation of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.”

Meanwhile, China accused Western countries of propagating “falsehoods,” insisting that issues related to Xinjiang “are about countering violent terrorism, radicalization and separatism.”

“For some time now, the U.S. and some other Western countries have been misinforming the public about Xinjiang and seeking political manipulation in the name of human rights simply to smear China’s image and contain China’s development,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement posted Thursday on its website. 

‘Refusing to stand on the right side of history’

Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, alleged that China was using the pretext of religious extremism to carry out atrocities against the Uyghur minority.

“China has carried out its genocide against Uyghurs largely because of Uyghurs’ belief in Islam. … Basically, China has declared war on Islam and has been attacking Islamic beliefs and values,” he told Radio Free Asia (RFA), an online news service affiliated with BenarNews.

“For Muslim countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Qatar and UAE to vote at the U.N. in support of China’s ongoing genocide against Uyghur Muslims is not only an assault on Uyghur Muslims, but also an assault on Islam itself. To stand together with a regime that is committing genocide against a Muslim people is to be complicit in the same genocide.”

Human rights are universal, said Rushan Abbas, executive director of the Campaign for Uyghurs.

“By refusing to stand on the right side of history and justice, governments that voted no or abstained have made it easier for China to carry out the ongoing genocide against Uyghurs, and hindered the progress toward real justice and accountability for the victims,” he told RFA.

Meanwhile, Greg Barton, an Indonesia scholar at Australia’s Deakin University, said Jakarta’s move was “disappointing, but not surprising.”

“It would have been good to see Indonesia being more bold, but at least, unlike a number of other countries, Indonesia did not simply rehash the propaganda of the Chinese government and deny that there is a problem of human rights abuses on a massive scale occurring in Xinjiang,” Barton told BenarNews.

Domestic political considerations also influenced the Indonesian position, he said.

“A ‘yes’ vote would have been used to argue that President [Joko Widodo] Jokowi was capitulating to pressure from his hardline Islamist critics,” he said.

It seems likely that a major factor was that Jakarta was facing intense pressure from Beijing and did not want to trigger a major falling out with the Chinese government, he said.

However, Taiwanese scholar Si Jianyu believes the lure of investment from Beijing is the reason Indonesia and some other Central Asian republics voted against discussing the Uyghur situation at the U.N. Human Rights Council.

“The real reason for Indonesia to be against the motion is that China’s Belt and Road Initiative has big investment in Indonesia, and they won’t forget about the investments and focus on the human rights issues in Xinjiang,” Si, a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taiwan, told RFA.

“Xinjiang’s human rights situations are not important to them. The human rights records in their own countries are not so good either.”

Rene Pattiradjawane, a scholar at the Center for China Studies in Jakarta, said Indonesia’s vote was in line with its non-alignment foreign policy.

“Indonesia should not be lured into a campaign to vilify China for the interests of other countries,” he told BenarNews.

“Indonesia in any context will not want to join anti-China bullying.”

Alim Seytoff of RFA Uyghur and Gao Feng of RFA Mandarin contributed to this report by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news service.

A court in Hong Kong on Friday sentenced a prominent online radio host to two years and eight months in prison for sedition and money laundering, charges he confessed to in a plea deal.

Prior to his February 2021 arrest, Edmund Wan Yiu-sing, known by his DJ name “Giggs,” hosted programs that reported and commented on Hong Kong and Chinese politics for D100, an independent online radio station. Wan also once hosted a program for RFA’s Cantonese Service from 2017 to 2020.

Authorities charged that Wan hosted programs that “incited others to resist or overthrow the Chinese Communist Party” and “promoted Hong Kong independence,” the Hong Kong Free Press independent news outlet reported.

Last month, Wan pleaded guilty to one charge of seditious intent for on-air comments he made in 2020, and three charges of money laundering related to crowd funding transactions. In exchange, six other charges were left on file, which means they cannot be pursued without the court’s permission. 

The charges come under a law, created when Hong Kong was under British rule, that defines sedition as “intent to arouse hatred or contempt of the Hong Kong [government] or to incite rebellion, and cause dissatisfaction with it.”

The sedition law was revived by the administration of Chief Executive Carrie Lam during the 2019 protest movement and has been used to arrest pro-democracy activists.

The sentence was an example of “Hong Kong authorities’ relentless efforts to silence political criticism by journalists,” Iris Hsu, China representative for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. 

“The government should stop using the colonial-era sedition law and apparent retaliatory charges of financial crimes against the press,” she said.

The money-laundering charges were for using his website and social media accounts in February 2020 to call for donations to support Hong Kongers who moved to Taiwan for study. 

In addition to the time in prison, the court also ordered Wan to hand over HK$4.87 million (about U.S. $620,000) in assets.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cuban counterpart, Manuel Marrero Cruz, agreed this week after meeting in Phnom Penh to forge closer ties between their two countries, signing pledges to cooperate on areas related to culture and sports.

Two years ago, a key member of Hun Sen’s inner circle was forging his own links to the island nation through a secretive deal to purchase a stake in the Cuban state tobacco company, according to two sources familiar with the matter and corporate records.

Chen Zhi, who was born in China but granted citizenship in Cambodia in 2014, is the founder of Prince Group of companies, one of the largest and most influential conglomerates in the Kingdom. It has interest in real estate, banking, finance, tourism and food and beverage companies among other businesses.

Chen has been equally adept at navigating Cambodia’s political world, spending three years as an unpaid adviser to Interior Minister Sar Kheng, according to a 2017 announcement in the royal gazette. In October 2020, Hun Sen appointed Chen to be his own counselor with a rank equal to minister. The next year, in March, the Prince Group announced a $3 million donation to Cambodia to help it fight the pandemic.

The same month that Chen ascended to become Hun Sen’s adviser, Imperial Brands, a U.K.-based tobacco company that includes the cigarette brand Winston, sold its 50 percent stake in Habanos S.A., a Havana-based company that distributes brands like Montecristo and Cohiba cigars, for €1.225 billion ($1.44 billion) to a secretive consortium of investors . Cuba’s state-owned tobacco company Cubatabaco owns the other half of Habanos.

While the buyers had sought to remain anonymous, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told RFA that Chen was one of the investors who purchased a piece of Habanos.

“Chen Zhi bought the company over a year and a half ago, but that was kept secret,” a regional tobacco industry professional told RFA, asking for anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Another individual with knowledge of Chen’s business dealings at the time of the deal told RFA that he was involved in the takeover. RFA’s source also named Hong Kong-listed casino operator Suncity Group Holdings as among the buyers of Habanos. Suncity’s billionaire CEO, Alvin Chau, was arrested in Macau last November following an investigation into illegal online gambling operations and money laundering. Chau pleaded not guilty to all charges as his trial commenced last month.

“It’s owned by Chen Zhi and Suncity,” the second source told RFA, requesting anonymity for fear of repercussions.

Suncity’s links to the deal were previously reported in May 2020 by Bloomberg, which noted that the group’s chief financial officer, Chiu King-yan, was listed as a director of the Hong Kong-registered Allied Cigar Corp. 

Allied was in turn the sole shareholder of a Spanish firm called Allied Cigar Corporation SL, which was set to take control of Imperial Brands’ half of Habanos, the joint venture with the Cuban government.

Suncity denied to Bloomberg it had anything to do with the deal.

In November 2020, control of the Allied Cigar Corporation SL shifted to Asia Uni Corp., Spanish corporate records show. Asia Uni Corp.’s latest annual report shows its shares are held by a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The BVI’s stringent corporate secrecy laws make it hard to know the precise makeup of Asia Uni Corp.’s ownership. But a list of the company’s directors on the same annual return shows a connection to Chen. 

Among the company’s five directors is Qiu Wei Ren, a Cambodian citizen and director of companies owned by Chen in Hong Kong and Cambodia. 

Like Chen, Qiu was born in China but has become a naturalized Cambodian. The pair were both awarded medals by the Cambodian king in 2020 alongside a roster of other Prince Group executives, according to the royal gazette, which publishes government decisions in Cambodia.

Holiday in Havana

Chen can be seen at the banquet Hun Sen threw this week in Phnom Penh welcoming Cruz to Cambodia in a photograph posted on the longtime Cambodian strongman’s Facebook page.

Chen was also by Hun Sen’s side when, after he addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the prime minister flew to Cuba on a Boeing business jet owned by controversial Chinese-businessman-turned-Cambodian-diplomat Wang Yaohui, according to an affidavit submitted to a Singapore court by one of Wang’s most trusted lieutenants. Wang has been the subject of recent investigative reports by RFA exploring his murky past in China and Africa and his rebirth in Cambodia, where he has sought legitimacy through political ties and secretive investments in a British soccer club.

Photographs that were also posted to Hun Sen’s Facebook page show Chen among the entourage that met with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and National Assembly President Esteban Lazo Hernández. 

A press release on the Cuban National Assembly’s website also notes that Chen was present in his capacity as an adviser to Hun Sen.

Prince Group’s chief communications officer, Gabriel Tan, asked RFA to direct any questions to the company’s PR agency Hill and Knowlton, which had not responded at the time of publication.

The suicide of a secondary school teacher in southeastern Vietnam last month who described her profession as “horrible” has stirred debate over the pressures facing educators. 

The 33-year-old woman, identified in Vietnamese media only by the initials “VTHP,” left her classroom at the Hai Cang Secondary School after the first morning session on Sept. 20 and went missing for four days. Residents of Quy Nhon city in Binh Dinh province, where the school is located, found her body next to a motorbike and a backpack containing teaching materials and what appeared to be a suicide note.

“If I have any next lives, I would never want this noble profession,” it read. “It is horrible.”

The teacher, originally from the province’s Phu Cat district, went on to write about the stress educators face in Vietnam. “Apart from a lot of teaching pressure in class, teachers still have to worry about whether their names are on the list of people making mistakes or not,” she wrote. “Time is too limited while the workload is too heavy. Teachers have to bear so many things.”

The note also cryptically referred to “an unacceptable incident which made me decide to leave this life today,” suggesting there was a specific event that pushed the woman over the edge. “I wish after I pass away, no teachers would be allowed to attend my funeral,” she wrote.

Other teachers said the pressures they face have been unbearable at times. “I completely understand why the teacher came up with the idea of killing herself,” said an educator from Hanoi with more than 20 years of experience who asked not to be identified.

“In addition to teaching, they are also responsible for many things for their students, families and school, including students’ grades and performance, students’ behavior and ethics, and class achievements,” she said, adding that the suicide has prompted her to consider creating a support group for teachers.

Recent data suggests that teachers are unhappy in their jobs. Since January 2020, more than 5,500 government officers have resigned, 44% of them from the education sector, according to Vietnamese state media.

In southeastern Vietnam, more than 1,200 teachers in Dong Nai province quit their jobs between early 2021 to mid-2022, while 527 educators in Binh Duong province resigned during the same period. The education department in the capital of Hanoi also has reported many cases of resignations.

Bottle of poison

On Thursday, Col. Phan Sau, chief of police in Quy Nhon, told local media that investigators had not yet completed a report on the cause of the woman’s death and were waiting for autopsy results from the forensics agency.

An employee of the Binh Dinh Forensic Center told Vietnam’s Workers newspaper said the cause would not be determined until after an examination, but that a bottle of poison had been found at the scene.

The teacher’s father told reporters on Thursday that his family had not received any word from authorities about what caused his daughter’s death. 

The mayor of Quy Nhon, capital of Binh Dinh province, told local media that the woman, whom he referred to as “Teacher P,” was a gentle and dedicated person who was devoted to her students, though she had experienced a problem with one of them.

The parents of a sixth-grader at the teacher’s school – secondary school in Vietnam goes from grades 10 to 12 – complained that she had hit their child, he said. School administrators then asked the teacher to write a report explaining the incident. 

In her report, the educator said she lightly struck the student for failing to take notes in class or complete homework assignments. She acknowledged that she made a mistake, and the student’s family said it would withdraw the complaint.

Union support?

The teacher’s death also raised questions about whether the school’s trade union could have offered her more support before she took her life. Generally, the teachers’ union doesn’t provide help in managing stress or offer counseling services, the educator from Hanoi said. Instead, the body’s main tasks are to attend the funerals of employees’ deceased family members on behalf of the school and to visit sick colleagues and give them some gifts, the teacher said.

“Individuals who don’t have standing [in an organization] have to find the safest way to protect themselves,” she said. “Therefore, they do not dare to speak up when their colleagues face injustice or oppression. Trade unions are useless, and they cannot protect teachers,” she said.

La Minh Luan, a retired teacher, raised questions on Facebook about the role of school administrators and why they appeared to not have supported the woman.

“Why couldn’t she bear with your way of management and behavior so that she had to take her own life? You guys are not without responsibility,” he wrote in a post. “If the management was prejudiced against her, I would question the responsibilities of the school’s trade union that looks after laborers’ rights and interest.”

A representative at Hai Cang Secondary School said the school had taken a number of measures to take pressure off the teacher.

“Internal issues are settled democratically in accordance with the school stipulations,” said the representative, who did not provide a name. “However, the teacher [who committed suicide] also faced other issues in life that were unclear.”

Do Viet Khoa, a Hanoi-based educator, told RFA that news of the suicide was “very painful” for teachers like him. 

He wondered if sharing her struggles on social media as well as with family and friends might have helped – but he also recognized that doing so publicly could get her in hot water. “If I shared that idea publicly, I immediately would be put in jail within the following week,” the teacher said,

Do said he knew first-hand of the vengeful acts and suppression by superiors at schools. “Unfortunately, in many schools across the country, the principals become thugs, rascals and despicable, petty people who do harm to others, cheat students’ parents and harm teachers,” he said. “This kind of story is not rare and perhaps my case is a typical one.”

After he accused the then-principal of his school of violating regulations and having extramarital affairs, he was isolated, Do said, and threatened for many years. He even took legal action against his adversaries, though his case has not been handled properly, he said.

Vu Minh Duoc, Director General of the Department for Teachers and Education Managers Affairs under the Ministry of Education and Training, said there were many reasons for teacher resignations, including low income and pressure from students’ parents and society, according to an article by the online newspaper VietnamNet.

To avoid stressful situations that could prompt other teachers to take their lives, the female teacher in Hanoi who wished to remain anonymous suggested that those who experience retribution share their stories with teachers’ communities and equip themselves with legal knowledge to fight for their legitimate rights and benefits.

“First, they need to connect with a community or surrounding colleagues to share their stories and get advice,” she said. “Then they need to seek help from lawyers and equip themselves with legal knowledge to take legal proceedings against their bosses,” she said. “Having a good understanding of related laws and their basic rights would enable them to identify whether their schools’ policies and deeds are right or wrong in order to fight back.”

Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.