By By Jody-Lan Castle Mar 27, 2013 in Politics Hanoi - The Vietnamese government has requested the public to put forward its views on Vietnam's long-awaited constitutional reform. A revised version of the constitution, written and posted online by a collective of well-known academics and former government employees, hit Hanoi particularly hard. In January, Former Vietnamese Minister of Justice Nguyen Dinh Loc was among those to support the petition's message. There is nothing new about the changes being proposed by the people. The majority of the debate has been around the hot topics of a free media, elections and the loosening of the Communist Party's tight grip over the nation. Private land ownership has also been a pressing issue for Vietnam, as corruption often leads to land leases being sold to higher bidders. Taboo Discussion The new enthusiasm in talking about Politics is unusual in a Socialist state like Vietnam. The government's past treatment of political dissidents has caused Politics to become a taboo topic in every day discussion. When asking the public for their opinion, the Communist Party had ruled out debate over particular sensitive issues such as land ownership and According to Amnesty International, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued a directive in late 2012 calling for the suppression of blogs expressing any form of discontent with the government. An "Dozens of prisoners of conscience, including bloggers, lawyers, writers, labour activists, business people, and supporters of opposition groups, are serving long prison terms under legislation which criminalizes peaceful dissent." Many doubt that their ideas will be heard during the reform process, as some clauses have been tightened instead of being relaxed. The current draft constitution is worded in a way that makes the Vietnamese Military answerable to the Communist Party, instead of the People. The Vietnamese public's window to express their views has been extended from the end of this month to September. There has been a flood of discussion surrounding the proposed changes since the first call for ideas in January, especially through online channels.A revised version of the constitution, written and posted online by a collective of well-known academics and former government employees, hit Hanoi particularly hard.In January, a petition advocating for multi-party elections was posted on various blogs, and managed to collect 500 signatures before many of the hosting sites were closed down.Former Vietnamese Minister of Justice Nguyen Dinh Loc was among those to support the petition's message.There is nothing new about the changes being proposed by the people. The majority of the debate has been around the hot topics of a free media, elections and the loosening of the Communist Party's tight grip over the nation.Private land ownership has also been a pressing issue for Vietnam, as corruption often leads to land leases being sold to higher bidders.The new enthusiasm in talking about Politics is unusual in a Socialist state like Vietnam. The government's past treatment of political dissidents has caused Politics to become a taboo topic in every day discussion.When asking the public for their opinion, the Communist Party had ruled out debate over particular sensitive issues such as land ownership and democratic elections According to Amnesty International, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued a directive in late 2012 calling for the suppression of blogs expressing any form of discontent with the government.An Amnesty International Urgent Action report following the lengthy imprisonment of 3 bloggers in Ho Chi Minh City stated that:Many doubt that their ideas will be heard during the reform process, as some clauses have been tightened instead of being relaxed.The current draft constitution is worded in a way that makes the Vietnamese Military answerable to the Communist Party, instead of the People.The Vietnamese public's window to express their views has been extended from the end of this month to September. More about Vietnam, Vietnamese, Government, Communism, Communist party More news from Vietnam Vietnamese Government Communism Communist party Democracy Constitution Reform