Vietnamese Teacher Interrogated for Writing Poem about Country’s Issues

Teacher Lam (center) with her students

Teacher Lam (center) with her students (Photo from her Facebook page)

Ms. Lam, an excellent teacher on literature of Ha Tinh High School, on April 25 posted her poem which raised a number of country’s problems, including environmental pollution, police power abuse, huge public debts, and government’s squandering on construction of giant monuments which have modest social impacts.

By Vu Quoc Ngu, April 29, 2016

Female teacher Tran Thi Thanh Lam from Vietnam’s central province of Ha Tinh has been interrogated by local security officers after her poem about country’s issues was broadcast on social networks.

Ms. Lam, an excellent teacher on literature of Ha Tinh High School, on April 25 posted her poem which raised a number of country’s problems, including environmental pollution, police power abuse, huge public debts, and government’s squandering on construction of giant monuments which have modest social impacts.

The poem has been spread fast on social network, with over 2,000 shares within few hours after Lam posted. Lam wrote the poem amid public concerns about the massive death of hundreds of tons of fish in coastal areas in the four central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue. The fish en-mass death is likely caused by toxic waste of the Taiwan-invested Formosa Steel Plant in Ky Anh district, Ha Tinh province.

Two days later, Mr. Lam was summoned to a local police station where she was questioned by security officers who later demanded her to remove the poem from her Facebook account, saying her writing may have negative impact on public.

The Ha Tinh province’s Department of Education and Training has also asked her to take the same move.

Under the pressure of police and the department, Lam removed the poem from her Facebook page, however, the poem became popular among activists nationwide and abroad.

Vietnam’s government has applied a number of controversial articles such as Article 88 and 258 to persecute those who exercise their rights of freedom of expression. In 2011, Vietnam arrested two compositors Viet Khang and Tran Vu Anh Binh after they produced a number of well-known patriotic songs and sentenced them to four and six years in jail, respectively.