Hơn 2000 người đã tham dự buổi thắp nến tại quảng trường Federation Square, Melbourbe vào ngày Thứ Sáu 10/10/2008. Buổi thắp nến đã gây tiếng vang sâu rộng trên các phương tiện truyền thông đại chúng của Úc Đại Lợi. Video này tường trình bài nói chuyện của dân biểu Luke Donnellan, một dân biểu trẻ trung của Úc, đại diện cho Thủ hiến John Brumby.
Trước hết, dân biểu Luke Donnellan đã đọc sứ điệp của thủ hiến tới mọi người tham dự cuộc thắp nến cầu nguyện hiệp thông đêm nay. Thủ hiến đồng hành cùng cộng đoàn Việt Nam tại Melbourne trước những ưu tư về quê hương đất nước Việt Nam. Úc Châu là một đất nước đa văn hóa, mọi người và mỗi người đều bình đẳng và chính phủ tạo điều kiện cho mỗi người phát triển cuộc sống...
Sau đó dân biểu Donnella chia sẻ kinh nghiệm của ông khi ông xin visa vào Việt Nam để thăm một người người tù lương tâm: linh mục Nguyễn Văn Lý! Đương nhiên nhà nước Việt Nam từ chối, nên ông đã đổi ý xin vào du lịch! Trong chuyến du lịch năm 2006 ông đã tìm cách gặp được người tù lương tâm là linh mục Nguyễn Văn Lý. Ông không hiểu được tại sao một chính quyền Công Sản, trong thời đại tự do ngày nay mà vẫn còn đối xử với công dân mình bằng đàn áp, bằng vũ lực, bằng gian dối không tôn trọng luật pháp quốc tế...
Theo dân biểu Donnella, khi người cộng sản đánh đập người dân vô tội, họ đã thua trận. Ông cầu chúc người dân Việt Nam sớm được hưởng tự do thật sự. Ông nói như sau:
Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk here tonight. I’ve got two roles, in my own right I had visited Vietnam and I visited dissident and I will talk about that secondly. My first role is to: I’ll briefly read a message from the Premier of Victoria.
“I welcome the opportunity to offer my warmest regards to all attending the candlelight vigil to pray for the Catholic Church in Vietnam. I commend these Australian Vietnamese Christians Association uniting people from all walks of life to advocate the peace and respect for human freedoms. Here in Victoria we’re committed to protecting the rights of all Victorians to practice their faith, speak their language, and celebrate their diversity without fear or favour. Gatherings such as this highlight the importance of gaining a deeper understanding of our state’s cultural, linguistic and religious diversity and the associated lives responsibilities and challenges. Victoria’s reputation is a society opposed to racism and accepting of people from all backgrounds and beliefs to remain solid. Together we must focus on building trust, harmony and strengthening social ties. I look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the many faith communities in Victoria to achieve this.”
Premier of Victoria, John Brumby.
I just want to briefly talk about my experiences in Vietnam. In March 2006, I went over to Vietnam, my first time for a visa to visit Father Ly who is a prisoner of conscience currently, but of course the Vietnamese govo [government] refused that initially, but then I sought a holiday visa and was very lucky to actually to get a holiday over there, which I thought was rather amusing.
So, I visited Father Ly and Father Ly’s just being convicted again of crimes against the Vietnamese government. He’s just being locked up for another 8 years and I suspect many of you would’ve seen the pictures of Father Ly with guards with their hands over his mouth as he was being convicted in, well, what they would call a court.
And Father Ly was a very impressive man, a man of great dignity, a very brave man. He was simply asking for basic demands for choice for the people, the freedom to practice their religion and for his troubles he spent 15 out of the last 21 years in jail and now his got another 8 years to go. It’s amazing the last time he was in jail they tried to poison him, his brother told me.
And you gotta wonder, when you’ve got a man of peace why the communist fear so much a man of peace, a man whose not asking for an overthrow of government, a man whose just asking for basic freedoms, basic dignity, the ability to be able to practice one faith. And I think the communist have got it wrong in Vietnam, I think they got it very wrong. You cannot have market freedom without democratic freedoms. And I their deluding themselves into thinking that they could sell the people of Saigon away and Hanoi market freedoms without giving them democratic freedoms.
Sooner or later there will be a crisis; democratic freedoms are the basic clearinghouses without democracy there will be a crisis in Vietnam. And you know that the communist are losing the battle when they have to behave like thugs, when they have to bash innocent people you know they are losing the battle.
When I was over there just before I got there, there were strikes in the streets of hundreds of thousands of people in Saigon, asking for basic democratic freedoms. The right to negotiating their workplace for a fair day’s work and a fair day’s pay. What I saw in Vietnam in the factories there was just disgraceful, what I saw was people who was severely injured at work and were told to shut up and go back to work or they would no longer have a job. I saw one lady whose head had been her whole top of her scalp had been ripped off and she was told that go back to work the next day.
So, I think the communist are getting it wrong, I think the communist will be defeated. I know the battle is being won when they behave like thugs and when you have to kill your own people or try and poison your own people, your very much killing a part of yourself. So I sincerely pray tonight more than anything else, that the people in Vietnam to continue their struggle, continue to believe that they are winning, continuing to believe that the Vietnamese Diaspora in America, Australia in all those other countries will continue to support them, cos [because] its very important that communism is beaten and that the people of Vietnam have dignity and freedom to behave and live the way they want.
And I congratulate you tonight on this vigil. Well done!
Trước hết, dân biểu Luke Donnellan đã đọc sứ điệp của thủ hiến tới mọi người tham dự cuộc thắp nến cầu nguyện hiệp thông đêm nay. Thủ hiến đồng hành cùng cộng đoàn Việt Nam tại Melbourne trước những ưu tư về quê hương đất nước Việt Nam. Úc Châu là một đất nước đa văn hóa, mọi người và mỗi người đều bình đẳng và chính phủ tạo điều kiện cho mỗi người phát triển cuộc sống...
Sau đó dân biểu Donnella chia sẻ kinh nghiệm của ông khi ông xin visa vào Việt Nam để thăm một người người tù lương tâm: linh mục Nguyễn Văn Lý! Đương nhiên nhà nước Việt Nam từ chối, nên ông đã đổi ý xin vào du lịch! Trong chuyến du lịch năm 2006 ông đã tìm cách gặp được người tù lương tâm là linh mục Nguyễn Văn Lý. Ông không hiểu được tại sao một chính quyền Công Sản, trong thời đại tự do ngày nay mà vẫn còn đối xử với công dân mình bằng đàn áp, bằng vũ lực, bằng gian dối không tôn trọng luật pháp quốc tế...
Theo dân biểu Donnella, khi người cộng sản đánh đập người dân vô tội, họ đã thua trận. Ông cầu chúc người dân Việt Nam sớm được hưởng tự do thật sự. Ông nói như sau:
Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk here tonight. I’ve got two roles, in my own right I had visited Vietnam and I visited dissident and I will talk about that secondly. My first role is to: I’ll briefly read a message from the Premier of Victoria.
“I welcome the opportunity to offer my warmest regards to all attending the candlelight vigil to pray for the Catholic Church in Vietnam. I commend these Australian Vietnamese Christians Association uniting people from all walks of life to advocate the peace and respect for human freedoms. Here in Victoria we’re committed to protecting the rights of all Victorians to practice their faith, speak their language, and celebrate their diversity without fear or favour. Gatherings such as this highlight the importance of gaining a deeper understanding of our state’s cultural, linguistic and religious diversity and the associated lives responsibilities and challenges. Victoria’s reputation is a society opposed to racism and accepting of people from all backgrounds and beliefs to remain solid. Together we must focus on building trust, harmony and strengthening social ties. I look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the many faith communities in Victoria to achieve this.”
Premier of Victoria, John Brumby.
I just want to briefly talk about my experiences in Vietnam. In March 2006, I went over to Vietnam, my first time for a visa to visit Father Ly who is a prisoner of conscience currently, but of course the Vietnamese govo [government] refused that initially, but then I sought a holiday visa and was very lucky to actually to get a holiday over there, which I thought was rather amusing.
So, I visited Father Ly and Father Ly’s just being convicted again of crimes against the Vietnamese government. He’s just being locked up for another 8 years and I suspect many of you would’ve seen the pictures of Father Ly with guards with their hands over his mouth as he was being convicted in, well, what they would call a court.
And Father Ly was a very impressive man, a man of great dignity, a very brave man. He was simply asking for basic demands for choice for the people, the freedom to practice their religion and for his troubles he spent 15 out of the last 21 years in jail and now his got another 8 years to go. It’s amazing the last time he was in jail they tried to poison him, his brother told me.
And you gotta wonder, when you’ve got a man of peace why the communist fear so much a man of peace, a man whose not asking for an overthrow of government, a man whose just asking for basic freedoms, basic dignity, the ability to be able to practice one faith. And I think the communist have got it wrong in Vietnam, I think they got it very wrong. You cannot have market freedom without democratic freedoms. And I their deluding themselves into thinking that they could sell the people of Saigon away and Hanoi market freedoms without giving them democratic freedoms.
Sooner or later there will be a crisis; democratic freedoms are the basic clearinghouses without democracy there will be a crisis in Vietnam. And you know that the communist are losing the battle when they have to behave like thugs, when they have to bash innocent people you know they are losing the battle.
When I was over there just before I got there, there were strikes in the streets of hundreds of thousands of people in Saigon, asking for basic democratic freedoms. The right to negotiating their workplace for a fair day’s work and a fair day’s pay. What I saw in Vietnam in the factories there was just disgraceful, what I saw was people who was severely injured at work and were told to shut up and go back to work or they would no longer have a job. I saw one lady whose head had been her whole top of her scalp had been ripped off and she was told that go back to work the next day.
So, I think the communist are getting it wrong, I think the communist will be defeated. I know the battle is being won when they behave like thugs and when you have to kill your own people or try and poison your own people, your very much killing a part of yourself. So I sincerely pray tonight more than anything else, that the people in Vietnam to continue their struggle, continue to believe that they are winning, continuing to believe that the Vietnamese Diaspora in America, Australia in all those other countries will continue to support them, cos [because] its very important that communism is beaten and that the people of Vietnam have dignity and freedom to behave and live the way they want.
And I congratulate you tonight on this vigil. Well done!