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A letter from ethnic Mongolian dissident Mr. Muunohai to the Chinese
president Hu Jin-tao


Dear president Hu,

Greetings!

It must indeed be improper to disturb you while you are very busy with state
affairs. However, I hope you will forgive me because this is also an
important affair of the state that must be reported to you.

A few years ago, following your instructions, the Publication Bureau under
the Department of Propaganda of the Central Government sent me a letter as
response to my letter to you in which I intended to report on the serious
problems regarding ethnic affairs contained in “A New ‘Sanzijing’”, a
national bestseller. The letter of the Publication Bureau contained a
sentence saying “we appreciate your reporting on problems to the Center,”
and I was greatly touched. Therefore, I understand that you as the President
do pay attention to opinions from the below. This is your admiring style of
winning the hearts of the common mass. It, therefore, also gave me the
courage to report to you on problems for your reference.

In the recent Constitutional amendment, our party’s Central Committee added
an article stating that “the state shall respect and protect human rights”.
When answering questions with national and foreign news media, Premier Wen
Jiabao also mentioned that China will “gradually and orderly establish a
democratic system.” All these tell us that our Party not only is
synchronizing its economical pace with the rest of the world, but also is
preparing to adopt a democratic and free model by keeping its political
system updated. It was supported and welcomed by the mass of all
nationalities across the country as it was a long-awaited great undertaking.

What are human rights? In my understanding, human rights are civil rights.
What are civil rights then? According to interpretations of well known
scholars from democratic and free nations, in a broad sense, civil rights
are rights of individual privacy and freedom of ordinary citizens that
should not be interfered by the state. This definition of freedom and civil
rights has no conflict with our Marxism-Leninism doctrine. “The Communist
Manifesto” also clearly pointed out that “what replaces the old capitalist
society where there exist conflicts between classes is a joint entity where
every individual’s free development becomes the prerequisite for free
development of all people” ( the highlights are done by me); after the
United States “Declaration of Independence” was published, Marx admiringly
called it “the first human rights declaration”; in 1847, Engles said, “after
succeeding of proletarian revolution, the number one priority is to
establish a democratic system”, when being asked about the process of
proletarian revolution; Lenin also stressed that “after socialism reforms
capitalism, all parts of the society will comprehensively implement
democratic system, and borders of nations will be drawn in accordance with
the will of residents”. It is evident that Marxism-Leninism highly respects
human rights, freedom, and democratic system. Therefore, adding the article
of “respecting and protecting human rights” into our country’s Constitution
is an absolutely correct initiative that not only conforms to the United
Nations charters but also complies with Marxism-Leninism.

However, unfortunately, not all of the articles written in the Constitution
are actually implemented. For instance, as early as 1954, our Constitution
has already adopted the article of “all citizens shall have freedom of
speech and press” that has never been implemented for 50 years until today,
and problems in this regard exist more severely in Inner Mongolia. Last
year, after completing my memoir “Dreamlike Life”, I was refused by all our
publishing houses. With no choice, I contacted Tianma L.L.C. in Hong Kong to
obtain an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and finally had my book
published. Last September, during the process of printing, Inner Mongolian
Department of State Security (which has its secret agents everywhere)
started to investigate the process of publication for problems found in the
book. I wrote to you immediately to report the relevant ethnic problems, and
asked the Central Government for urging Inner Mongolian authorities to
respect and protect “citizens’ rights to free speech and press” that is
guaranteed by the Constitution. I am uncertain whether the Central
Government gave an order, or the Party Secretary Chu Bo commented on it, the
Inner Mongolian Security Bureau stopped its investigation. Now, half a year
has already past, and the books have already been sold out. However, it is
hard to understand that the Inner Mongolian Department of State Security has
recently started investigating the book publication case again. The main
contents of my book were articles discussing about my life time experience
in which I recognized that democracy and freedom are invaluable and should
be regarded as the key measure of modernization for all nations and
nationalities. What I hoped for in my book is essentially consistent with
the democratic thought which has been stated in our Constitution as
“respecting and protecting human rights”.  However, example of
re-investigating my memoirs sufficiently proved that the age-old “leftist”
styles still exist in Inner Mongolia, and human rights are not respected.
Therefore, I am once more asking the Central Government to urge the Inner
Mongolian authorities to comply with the Constitution, “respect and protect
human rights, freedom of speech and press.” These are all my wishes. If
there are things improper, please point them out for me.

Best regards,


Muunohai --

A member of Chinese Communist Party for 58 years

A Mongolian specialist on ethnic issues


June 23, 2004