Open Letter to US Ambassador to Vietnam

FROM:             Le Anh Hung

TO:                  HE, Mr. Michael W. Michalak
                       Ambassador of the United States to Vietnam
Hanoi, 21st April  2008

Dear Sir,

First of all I would like to take this opportunity to extend to Your Excellency Mr. Ambassador of the United States of America to Vietnam my warmest greetings and heartfelt wishes. I am the English to Vietnamese translator of Alan Ebenstein’s Friedrich Hayek - a Biography, published by the Knowledge Publishing House in June 2007, about the most famous political philosopher of the 20th century, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. For the first time in Vietnam, this book discusses a broad range of tabooed issues such as socialism, Marxism, totalitarianism, freedom, democracy, and so on in such a truly in-depth and critical manner.

The reason for this letter is that my wife and I accidentally have some extremely sensitive secrets that could topple the current system or at the very least trigger political reshuffles towards a more liberal and democratic Vietnam: Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai has been a drug-trafficking organizer from the time he served as CEO of Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), killing one of his close assistants (a Quy Nhon City native) and at least four other people; he even sold national security-sensitive documents to foreign agents. More importantly, he is holding hostage two most important figures in Vietnam’s political hierarchy. In cooperation with a Vietnamese-American, he illegally imported weapons from countries like Japan, China, etc and handed over to CPV Secretary General Nong Duc Manh, also Chief of Military CP Central Committee, who in turn raised prices for personal gain. Besides, he trapped Nguyen Tan Dung, then First Deputy PM, into having sexual intercourse with an under-18 virgin. They also kidnapped and caused the death of a nine-month-old infant. This is of course a long and very complicated story, involving some other high-ranking officials as well.

They simply understand that with my style of writing, pushed by a deep-seated aspiration for justice, I just cannot resist telling the truth. I thus have no other choices but to make known those secrets and urgently appeal for political asylum.

I hope that with your country’s noble tradition of promoting freedom and democracy around the world, you would seriously consider my appeal and before any formal approval by your government (or any other country’s) for permanent residency, a temporary refuge at your Embassy will be made available for the sake of my family’s safety. I would be immeasurably grateful for that.

I am fully aware of my responsibilities, even facing criminal and/or destabilization charges, if the story is proved untrue by an independent investigation committee, which is what I ask for in the accusation letter.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours truly,

Le Anh Hung