An ‘announcement’ on the establishment of the Coalition for a Free and Democratic Vietnam (CFDV) by a person called Nguyen Dinh Thang appeared on the internet on June 1. Then that man sent a letter titled ‘Good News’ to fabricate glowingly ‘promising changes’ in Washington’s policy. In both documents, Thang considered the violation of national sovereignty as ‘an unexpected and rare opportunity to speed up democratising the country’(!) while repeating other allegations to deceive Vietnamese Americans and cash in on ‘democracy and human rights’ projects.
The name was also associated with deceptive practices during the 1990s with the organisation ‘Boat People SOS’ (BPSOS). Between 1999 and 2005, Thang, Ngo Thi Hien and some other individuals organised many campaigns of ‘donations for flood-stricken people’, which was actually a trick. Being uncovered, Thang and Hien tried to find ways to conceal the fact and threaten whistleblowers.
Under the pen name of Van Nam, Hoai Thanh of ‘Dai chung’ newspaper, which is published in the OV community in the US, wrote 22 articles between 1998 and 2001 to denounce unclear donations raised by Thang and Hien. They merely sent around one third of the donated amount to several anti-government individuals in Vietnam and embezzled the rest.
From 2001 to 2006, Thang and Hien took advantage of Ngo Ngoc Hung’s radio channel to slander, discredit and sue Thanh for many times but they failed. In October 2008, Thanh sued Hien’s group for undermining his honour and asked for compensation for spiritual and material losses. The Circuit Court for Mountgomery County, Maryland made a final judgement and Thanh won the case with US$1 million compensation!
Leading numerous activities against Vietnam, Thang has always taken advantage of US policies to Vietnam on democracy and human rights, as well as pressing issues in the country to seek sponsorship and exaggerate his prestige for personal gain.
After immigrating to the US in 1978, Thang took part in the BPSOS, the CRFV and the Coalition to Abolish Modern-day Slavery in Asia (CAMSA) and became leader of these organisations.
He has continuously undertaken activities to undermine US-Vietnam relations and the stability of Vietnam’s security. Taking advantage of charity activities, he has used sponsored money to gather force, incite the community to wreck the national unity and religious policies of the State of Vietnam.
Thang’s BPSOS has co-ordinated with the terrorist organisation ‘Viet Tan’ of Do Hoang Diem to provide financial support to violators to Vietnamese law, and entice people into gathering for riots to undermine social safety and order.
He also colluded with ‘Thuong People’s Fund’ of Ksor Kok in cajoling Thuong ethnic people into applying for asylum in the US, establishing a so-called ‘Degar self-reliant state’ and protesting against the Government of Vietnam.
Thang also undertook numerous activities to slander Vietnam on violations of human rights at several international forums.
Taking advantage of the development of the internet, since early 2012, Nguyen Dinh Thang in co-ordination with Truc Ho from SBTN channel, has repeatedly launched a number of campaigns to sign ‘petitions’ on the forum ‘We The People’ of the White House, calling on the US Government to put pressure on Vietnam for “the release of all political prisoners in Vietnam”; and compensate Vietnamese Americans for confiscated property after April, 30, 1975.
With many different tricks, Thang collected enough signatures; however, the result was then a humiliation. After the failure, Thang continued to launch a number of petitions to slander the Vietnamese State and to violate democracy and human rights; and call on the US Government to stop bilateral trade with Vietnam on the occasion of President Truong Tan Sang’s visit to the US in July, 2013.
Through all kinds of petitions, on the one hand, Nguyen Dinh Thang schemed to seek opportunities to build up his image among the Vietnamese community in the US and officials of the US Congress and Government; on the other hand, Thang has been trying to induce a number of young Vietnamese Americans - who paid little attention to the political issues in Vietnam - to eventually participate in the activities organised by Nguyen Dinh Thang. However, Thang’s ambition and conspiracy have been gradually identified by the Vietnamese communities abroad.
Many people know that Nguyen Dinh Thang is taking advantage of activities in the name of ‘supporting the community’ for personal gain and making money. After Thang’s post the letter ‘Good news’ on the website sachhiem.net, a reader replied: “Do not be so arrogant as to be patriotic, because henchmen never know what patriotism is!” Unfortunately, there are a number of Overseas Vietnamese and some US politicians who for various reasons have yet to discern the true face of Nguyen Dinh Thang, and also helped Thang’s sabotage activities.
