Read a version of this story in Vietnamese
VietnamNet has been removing articles about Vietnam’s new minister of ethnic and religious affairs, Dao Ngoc Dung, after the news site was put under control of his ministry, Radio Free Asia has learned.
Oversight of VietnamNet is in flux after a government streamlining plan – overseen by Communist Party General Secretary To Lam and executed at an extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly in February – saw five ministries disappear.
The reorganization included the creation of a Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs to oversee minorities and questions of faith, sensitive issues that have drawn considerable international criticism of the government.
But the appointment of its new minister who has been disciplined twice by the ruling Communist Party and the removal of articles about those scandals from a news site which will soon be under the ministry’s control raises questions about the management of the ministry.
VietnamNet was under the supervision of the Ministry of Information. As a result of the latest cuts and mergers, the ministry was incorporated into the Ministry of Science and Technology.
But on Sunday, when the government issued Decree No.55, VietnamNet was not listed under the science ministry, leaving VnExpress as its sole news site.
The decree stated that VietnamNet would be overseen by the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs when the news site’s transfer is officially approved later this month.
Vanishing articles
On Monday, RFA found that all articles published in May 2024 about disciplinary action against Dung, then head of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, or MOLISA, had disappeared. Dung was put in charge of the new religious affairs ministry last month.
By noon, at least four articles had been taken down. Readers clicking on links were told “page not found.” The articles included: “Politburo Reprimands MOLISA Minister,” “Proposal to Discipline MOLISA Party Personnel Committee,” “Prime Minister Disciplines MOLISA Minister and Former Minister,” and “Central Inspection Commission Announces MOLISA Violations”
By 10 p.m., readers were redirected to VietnamNet’s homepage. The articles could still be read on Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, which preserves past versions of websites.
It is unclear when the removal of articles, first spotted by BBC Vietnamese, began. RFA repeatedly called VietnamNet’s hotline to find out, but no one answered.
Germany-based lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, who frequently criticizes the government on YouTube, said he thought Dung had ordered the news site to remove the articles as soon as his appointment was announced.
Another possibility was that the site’s editor-in-chief self-censored after learning VietnamNet would be overseen by the minister, Dai said.
What is the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs?
On Saturday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced the National Assembly’s resolution on establishing the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs. The new ministry is based on the Government Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs and takes over religious affairs management which was overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The new ministry has the difficult task of overseeing ethnic and religious affairs.
The government has been accused by the U.S, E.U. and other countries and rights groups of suppressing ethnic minorities and religious groups that are not sanctioned by the state, denying them the basic rights of freedom of expression and religion.
Vietnam denies that and in announcing the establishment of the ministry, Chinh stressed the importance of preventing “hostile and reactionary forces” exploiting religious issues to create divisions.
He also called for efforts to expand satellite internet coverage and accelerate digital transformation in remote, border, and island regions, and other areas with large ethnic minority populations.
A history of official reprimands
Dao Ngoc Dung became ethnic and religious affairs minister on Feb. 18 despite having been disciplined twice by the Party.
In July 2006, while serving as the first secretary of the Central Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, he was reprimanded and reassigned for violating the entrance exam regulations for PhD candidates at the National Academy of Public Administration.
State media reported at the time rumors that “Dao Ngoc Dung – a member of the Central Party Committee and First Secretary of the Central Youth Union – was caught red-handed cheating on a postgraduate entrance exam at the National Academy of Public Administration.”
In May 2024, he received a second disciplinary reprimand for negligence in leadership, which led to misconduct involving the Advanced International Joint Stock Company during his tenure as labor minister from 2016 to 2021.
AIC, led by Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan – currently in hiding in Germany and wanted in Vietnam – was involved in bidding frauds and bribery in multiple localities. Nhan was sentenced in absentia in 2023 to 30 years in prison for bid rigging and bribery.
The Communist Party’s Politburo issued a disciplinary reprimand against Dung, the mildest form of discipline, which includes reprimand, warning, dismissal, and expulsion.
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According to lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, the Politburo concluded last year that Dung not only violated Communist Party regulations but also “broke the law.”
“Article 16 of the constitution stipulates that all citizens are equal before the law. If someone breaks the law, they must be held accountable,” he said.
“However, Dao Ngoc Dung was not only spared from punishment but was also allowed to remain minister of labor, invalids, and social affairs, and now he has even been appointed minister of ethnic and religious affairs.
“This indicates he is part of a powerful political faction in Vietnam, which currently holds significant influence. Many believe he belongs to To Lam’s faction.”
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Mike Firn.