After the crackdown in Dong Tam, Lieutenant General Pham Phu Thai was quoted by the press as saying Dong Tam people “invaded public land” and presented an old piece of paper stating the airport coordinates he had been landing since 1968. From his memory, Gen. Thai said “there are too many incorrect articles about the initial situation to say the land is in dispute and blames or defaming the regime.”
Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, from Da Nang, who wrote an article from 2017 entitled “Chess Board on Dong Tam” with deep a analyzes on the basic legal arguments raised by Dong Tam people when working with the authorities. Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan is an independent journalist posted his articles mainly on Facebook with many valuable ideas.
We post here with the opinion of Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan and the link of article about Mr. Pham Phu Thai’s point of view for readers to compare and comment.
Article on Nguyen Anh Tuan Facebook
A few of you sent me an article by a man named Pham Phu Thai that I photographed below with a link. I would argue a few points as follows:
(1) The article unclearly describes about the land area. No one objected that there is Mieu Mon airport (though abandoned nearly 40 years) on the land. This is the part of land the villagers hand over to the decision-making authority with a minute, and the people absolutely have not demanded for. The reclaimed land is located next door, the government called the Mieu Mon airport project phase 2, but no decision was made, no handover and compensation records.
(2) The article itself talks about the lack of an accurate land map. The authorities have no documents on land acquisition, which must have a decision and a record of handing over and receiving compensation and support money for the land that the villagers demand.
(3) Talking about land must be based on landmarks, maps, decisions, and records, but it is impossible to come up with a scribbled hand-drawn diagram and quickly conclude that all is military land and fee of disputes.
Everything in the article is completely unpersuasive if compared with the arguments of Mr. Kinh. You can read in the article I summarized in the link below.
This is also the reason why I have repeatedly called on the government to have sincere dialogues with the villagers broadcast live under the supervision of the public. The arguments of both parties will be assessed by the public, both from a legal and a judicial perspective.
Link to Pham Phu Thai’s post on his Facebook
Link to the article on VTC news paper General Pham Phu Thai:Dong Tam villagers were “encroaching public land” https://vtc.vn/tin-nhanh-24h/tuong-pham-phu-thai-vu-viec-o- Dong-tam-la-lan-chi-dat-cong-ar521355.html
CHESS BOARD ON DONG TAM
(posted on Facebook Nguyen Anh Tuan since 2017)
[It is not clear how people read the articles narrating the draft conclusions of the Hanoi government’s inspection of Dong Tam land. I find it too confusing. The explanation below by Kinh is easier for me to understand and more coherent. If you have time, please watch the full clip, or read the summary below.]
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PART 1: LEGAL ADVICE
The whole Dong Tam incident involved two separate land areas, adjacent to each other, temporarily called Zone A (47.36 ha) and Area B (59 ha).
Zone A is the land of Mieu Mon airport that Dong Tam people assigned to the Government since 1980. The suspended airport project has been 37 years so to avoid wasting, the Army has contracted with Dong Tam to allow people to watch. cooperated with and paid rents to the Army for decades.
It is strange that the Army sat without reaping on the land of the former villagers, but to have arable land, the people of Dong Tam still accepted, so everything went smoothly for many years, until Viettel recently There are many projects in this area.
At that time, if the Army only reclaimed this Area A and handed it to Viettel, even though it was sad because of losing arable land, the people of Dong Tam still accepted because they accepted that this land, even though the original capital was from the village. furthermore, it was given to the Government 37 years ago. They understand they are just borrowing the land. If you borrow it, you will pay back, that’s normal.
But no, the Army and Viettel want more than that. They aim to the B Zone next to them, the terrain is more beautiful with 2 fronts (the South and the West borders the provincial road DT429, connecting to Ho Chi Minh road). This is the land of Senh in the call of the people of Dong Tam.
Controversy starts here. People in Dong Tam think that 100% of Zone B is agricultural land of the commune, Viettel wants to claim compensation according to regulations (at least several hundred billion). Military and Viettel of course do not want that, but the attitude is complicated, inconsistent. They, in conjunction with the Hanoi government, planned to compensate and relocate only a few dozen households (including their officers who had just bought the land in this area) – indirectly acknowledging this was not land. naitional defense. Sometimes, we sent the troops back to the fence and set up military land plots on the whole land before reclaiming it.
To prove his point, Mr. Kinh – representative of Dong Tam villagers, made the following arguments:
Firstly, and most importantly: If it is a defense land, why is Viettel and the Hanoi government compensating for the resettlement of households here? If they haven’t penalized them, they will seize the land for defense, and why are they compensating billions of dong for each household and setting up a relocation project for them?
Second, when moving on land acquisition, Dong Tam villagers complained that the governing body of Mieu Mon airport project was the Air Force-Air Defense Force, so the Military Service requested to contact Hanoi authorities. . That means civil land, but if it is a defense land, how could the Quan army push responsibility to the Hanoi government?
Thirdly, if it is a defense land, why has the Dong Tam commune authority been collecting the residential land tax for households temporarily allocated by the commune?
Fourth, the Hanoi government determined that the total land area for defense here was 236.9 hectares, but Lu 28 – the unit that directly manages the land at Mieu Mon Airport – admitted that it only held 208 hectares, equal to the exact area the Government recovered as an airport 37 years ago. Why is there a difference of 28.9 ha?
PART 2: REFLECTION FROM THE GOVERNMENT
All four arguments are not easily countered. However, after the unprecedented arrest of officials in Dong Tam commune, the Hanoi government had no choice but to prove the villagers of Dong Tam wrong. Which must be completely false, then repressive moves can then be justified.
What did the Hanoi government do?
Four days before the publication of the draft Dong Tam land inspection conclusions, on July 3, Hanoi Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung asked the City Council to revoke the project of resettlement arrangement for households in Zone B (Dong Senh land), with the strange reason that “the people there had land and no need to resettle” [1] That is, in response to the first argument of Mr. Kinh, the Hanoi government. had to accept to sacrifice some of the benefits of a few dozen households (either local people associated with the commune authorities, or military officers who had just purchased land to receive compensation for resettlement).
The move paved the way to the publication of a draft of inspection conclusions on July 7, in which the Hanoi government told a completely different story. That is, there is no Zone A, Zone B at all, but all is defense land. The local authorities were wrong to let go of management, leaving the households to encroach, donate, and transfer (refuting the third argument of Mr. Kinh). Besides, the reason for the area difference of up to 28.9 ha is because of “affected by construction” and this is the land for implementation of “Phase 2 of Mieu Mon Airport” (rejected the fourth argument). by Kinh). This area has not been “defended by the defense units to the Ministry of Defense for reporting to the Prime Minister” (also a response to Mr. Kinh’s second argument). [2]
Quite commendation for the Hanoi government with just a revocation of the project and a draft of inspection conclusions have simultaneously rejected four important arguments of Mr. Kinh, who is leading Dong Tam people in struggle to keep the land. .
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PART 3: OPPORTUNITY AND ANSWER
It is not difficult to see that the Hanoi government is just taking advantage of its absolute strength over the villagers in capturing and creating documents, both old and new, and through which can tell a story. different for what happened – an alternative fact.
However, the scenario that has been fabricated must have a loophole. In the newly told story of the Hanoi government, the loophole may lie in the following points:
Firstly, in May 2016, the Hanoi People’s Committee sent a document to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the City Clearance Steering Committee, My Duc District People’s Committee and Viettel Telecommunications Group clearly stating that Fee for implementation of compensation, assistance and resettlement is paid by Viettel Group “. [3] If the Hanoi government insists that this is a defense land and people encroach on the construction, why does the Hanoi government require Viettel to pay compensation, support and resettlement?
Second, what is the difference of up to 28.9 ha with the reason “affected by construction”? Why did the draft conclusion of the inspection nearly 2 months ago have such an obscure sentence? The soil swelled because of the effect of the construction? This unusual cliché suggests that the Hanoi authorities seem to be in need of a good reason while the inspection time is limited.
Thirdly, when and in what documents was the so-called “Phase 2 of Mieu Mon Airport”? A 37-year suspension project without shovels in the first phase, and will not be implemented forever, will now recover land for phase 2?
nfident of the arguments they make in the draft inspection conclusions, I propose this: Hold a confrontation session coordinated by lawyers and broadcast live on newspapers and social networks (Facebook, Youtube), in which each argument point of each party is made dissected, debated before the eyes of the public. Documents (the most important of which are documents related to the so-called Mieu Mon airport phase 2) must be made public, and invited by independent lawyers to determine the age of the text, avoiding status of the project in 1980 and its documents were created again in 2017.
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[1] [3] http://dantri.com.vn/…/ha-noi-rut-du-an-thu-hoi-dat-tai-din…
[2] http://www.tienphong.vn/…/toan-bo-khu-san-bay-mieu-mon-la-d…
PS: The clip of Mr. Kinh explaining the Dong Tam land dispute was filmed right after the Hanoi government ordered to prosecute the case of illegal arrest of people here (Source clip: FB Dong Tam – My Duc – Hanoi ). The reason Mr. Kinh had to sit in a wheelchair to present because on April 15, he was broken by his army officers and police officers when he tricked him to go to the field to cross border markers to arrest him. In the clip, she describes the happenings of the assault and kidnapping. See more here: https://www.facebook.com/nguyen.anh.tuan8690/posts/1766806500000902
Nguyen Anh Tuan – Da Nang
Trung Hieu from Ha noi – Thoibao.de (translated)
