ad info




TIME Asia
TIME Asia Home
Current Issue
Magazine Archive
Asia Buzz
Travel Watch
Web Features
  Entertainment
  Photo Essays

Subscribe to TIME
Customer Services
About Us
Write to TIME Asia

TIME.com
TIME Canada
TIME Europe
TIME Pacific
TIME Digital
Asiaweek
Latest CNN News

Young China
Olympics 2000
On The Road

 ASIAWEEK.COM
 CNN.COM
  east asia
  southeast asia
  south asia
  central asia
  australasia
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 SHOWBIZ
 ASIA WEATHER
 ASIA TRAVEL


Other News
From TIME Asia

Culture on Demand: Black is Beautiful
The American Express black card is the ultimate status symbol

Asia Buzz: Should the Net Be Free?
Web heads want it all -- for nothing

JAPAN: Failed Revolution
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori clings to power as dissidents in his party finally decide not to back a no-confidence motion

Cover: Endgame?
After Florida's controversial ballot recount, Bush holds a 537-vote lead in the state, which could give him the election

TIME Digest
FORTUNE.com
FORTUNE China
MONEY.com

TIME Asia Services
Subscribe
Subscribe to TIME! Get up to 3 MONTHS FREE!

Bookmark TIME
TIME Media Kit
Recent awards

TIME Asia Asiaweek Asia Now TIME Asia story
ASIA
SEPTEMBER 14, 1998 VOL. 152 NO. 10


Dissidents' Deliverance
Vietnam's liberation of prominent political prisoners signals change--and an economic distress call
By TIM LARIMER Bangkok

In a 12-sq-m cell inside an isolated Vietnamese prison camp, Doan Viet Hoat's days were numbingly alike. He would wake up, practice yoga, eat a few spoonfuls of rice, walk in a circle for an hour or so, bathe with water from a small spigot, sleep. When it wasn't too hot, he would step out into a small garden attached to his cell and tend vegetables. "That's all I did for four years," he says. "That, and think."

Hoat's incarceration ended last week when Vietnam freed the 55-year-old pro-democracy activist and at least eight other prominent political and religious dissidents. In a bizarre end to their Kafkaesque incarcerations, several shared a common prison outside Hanoi in their final three days behind bars. Next to Hoat's cell was Jimmy Tran, a Vietnamese-American convicted in 1993 of trying to blow up government buildings. Nearby was Thich Quang Do, head of an outlawed Buddhist church who was jailed in 1994 on charges of trying to overthrow the government. And there was Ly Tong, another Vietnamese emigre to the United States who in 1992 hijacked a commercial airliner, dumped anti-communist leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City and parachuted down to lead the revolution he thought the pamphlets would incite. The prisoners couldn't see each other, but they spoke by shouting through air conditioning vents. "It was incredible to be together like that," says Tran, contacted by phone in California.

The mass release of so many Vietnamese dissidents was unprecedented. Besides the high-profile cases, Hanoi set free more than 5,000 prisoners of all stripes. The move reflected, in part, the desire of Vietnam's recently installed government to make its mark. "It's a tradition that the new emperor always lets free the prisoners of the old emperor," says Hoat's wife, Tran Thi Thuc. But economic considerations may have been the primary motivation. Vietnam desperately needs foreign investment to revitalize its moribund economy. Its poor human-rights record has strained relations with the U.S. and Europe and kept potential investors away. The E.U. this summer passed a resolution condemning Vietnam's treatment of dissidents. The release of Hoat & Co. is apparently designed to answer such concerns. The leadership "finally realized these human-rights cases were obstacles in the way of developing the country," says an American who was involved in negotiations aimed at securing Hoat's release.

PAGE 1  |  PAGE 2



This edition's table of contents | TIME Asia home

AsiaNow


   LATEST HEADLINES:

WASHINGTON
U.S. secretary of state says China should be 'tolerant'

MANILA
Philippine government denies Estrada's claim to presidency

ALLAHABAD
Faith, madness, magic mix at sacred Hindu festival

COLOMBO
Land mine explosion kills 11 Sri Lankan soldiers

TOKYO
Japan claims StarLink found in U.S. corn sample

BANGKOK
Thai party announces first coalition partner



TIME:

COVER: President Joseph Estrada gives in to the chanting crowds on the streets of Manila and agrees to make room for his Vice President

THAILAND: Twin teenage warriors turn themselves in to Bangkok officials

CHINA: Despite official vilification, hip Chinese dig Lamaist culture

PHOTO ESSAY: Estrada Calls Snap Election

WEB-ONLY INTERVIEW: Jimmy Lai on feeling lucky -- and why he's committed to the island state



ASIAWEEK:

COVER: The DoCoMo generation - Japan's leading mobile phone company goes global

Bandwidth Boom: Racing to wire - how underseas cable systems may yet fall short

TAIWAN: Party intrigues add to Chen Shui-bian's woes

JAPAN: Japan's ruling party crushes a rebel ì at a cost

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans need to have more babies. But success breeds selfishness


Launch CNN's Desktop Ticker and get the latest news, delivered right on your desktop!

Today on CNN
 Search

Back to the top   © 2000 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.