Rejoinder                                           By Suhas Chakma Hanoi represses its minorities In a clear rebuff to the European Parliament resolution on freedom of expression and religion in Vietnam of 15 May 2003, the People's Court of the Central Daklak province of Vietnam in a judgement on 27 May 2003 sentenced 15 Ede and Jirai indigenous peoples from five to 10 years prison plus four years of house arrest on their release. The European Parliament expressed concerns at the continuing arrests, harassment and detentions of indigenous Montagnards. On 26 May 2003, a day prior to the judgment, the Communist party newspaper, Nhan Dan, in an editorial denounced the European Parliament resolution. The link between the Kangaroo court and party mouthpiece is evident. The People's Court of Daklak province charged the ethnic minorities of "organizing illegal - migration to Cambodia", "undermining state and Communist Party policy" and contacting ; fonner members of the guerrilla group FULRO;Front Unifie de Lutte des Races Opprimes, who are now living in the United States, to "sow disunity" among the hill tribes in the Central Highlands. From 2-6 February 2001, thousands of indigenous peoples held peaceful demonstrations in Daklak and Gia Lai provinces demanding political autonomy, freedom to practise Protestant faith and the return of ancestral lands confiscated for coffee plantations and settlement of the Kinh majority. The root causes of the conflicts are sponsored population transfer of the majority Kinh into the lands of indigenous Montagnards and repression ranging from denial of religious freedom to banning of watching foreign TV programmes beamed in by satellite under a decree of 18 June 2002 -that pervades the Vietnamese society. The Montagnards who sided with the United States during Vietnam War are at the receiving end. The sponsored population transfers of the majority Kinh have radically transformed the human composition of the highlands population. According to a World Bank study, by 1997 in a population of 1.2 million inhabitants in Dak Lak province, 900,000 were migrants, i.e. 75%, and the flow was still continuing today at an annual rate of 6 to 15%. About 400 families from Ben Tre were sent to the Ea Sup district of Dak Lak province in April 2003. Another 200 families from Ben Tre were scheduled to be resettled elsewhere in Dak Lak in May 2003. The settler families are provided with a house and one hectare of cultivable land and they plant cashew crops for army-owned farms. The World Bank further reported, "The poorly educated indigenous populations, who in the main do not speak Kinh, are poorly placed to defend themselves and risk not benefiting fully from the national policy to develop the Highlands. In addition, the traditional way of , life of the indigenous populations is gradually being supplanted by the dominant civilisation of the Kinh, giving rise to dangers of assimilation and marginalisation." Repression and military crackdowns have been the only forms of engagement adopted by Hanoi with regard to the Montagnards. Consequently, hundreds of indigenous peoples fled to neighbouring Cambodia. After Vietnam intensified military crackdown after the February 2001 democratic protests, indigenous peoples primarily from the Jarai, Pnong, and Ede ethnic groups crossed over to Cambodia. Most of the fleeing refugees stayed in jungles without food till the officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees rescued them. Despite the intervention of the UNHCR, Cambodian authorities forcibly repatriated a large number of Vietnamese refugees. True to communist style, Hanoi offered bounty for each minority member refouled. On 19 February 2002, 15 people out of more than 1,000 indigenous mountain peoples were repatriated under a tripartite agreement reached between UNHCR, government of Vietnam and government of Cambodia for voluntary and UN-monitored repatriation. However, the repatriation was suspended after the United States complained the UNHCR could not ensure the safety of the returnees and the authorities in Hanoi refused to allow UNHCR officials to verify the status of the returnees. On 22 March 2002, the UNHCR pulled out of a repatriation agreement with Hanoi and Phnom Penh following several incidents where Hanoi and Phnom Penh authorities have been accused of mistreating and threatening the asylum seekers. On 21 March 2002, more than 300 relatives of the asylum seekers and at least 100 Vietnamese officials were brought on buses to the refugee camp in northeastern Cambodia to pressure the asylum seekers to return to Vietnam. About 900 of the Montagnards were finally given asylum in the United States. Due to diplomatic pressure from Hanoi, Cambodia has increasingly become a fortress for the fleeing Montagnard refugees. Following the crackdown in the Sao village under Madrak district of Dak Lak province in September 2002, according to Moung Poy, Deputy Governor of Ratnakiri province of Cambodia, a Vietnamese delegation consisting of two governors and a military police chief visited Cambodian officials in the area on 24 September 2002 to urge prevention of any further influx. During the first week of January 2003, an estimated 50 Pnongs crossed over to Koh Nheak in the Mondulkiri and Rattanakiri areas of Cambodia. They were arrested by the Cambodian Police and handed over to the Vietnamese border police. Around the third week of January 2003, another group of 30 Pnongs were again arrested by Cambodian police near Koh Nheak. But the men in the second group were reportedly beaten up severely by the Cambodian police, in front of the women and children, before they were handed over to the Vietnamese border guards. By harking back on her suffering at the hands of the United States, Vietnam sought to scuttle any international scrutiny on its human rights record, including untold atrocities ranging from forcible steralisation of indigenous Montagnard women to banning praying at house church, as western propaganda. Yet, atrocities against the Montagnards can no longer be hidden under the bamboo curtains. Unless, Vietnam stops the population transfers of the majority Kinh, the ethnic minorities, who are increasingly becoming a minority in their own lands, will continue to protest for survival with their distinct identities. As the authorities in Hanoi know, repression has never been able to quell down the quest for freedom.