From: mai@cc.uow.edu.au (Van Dao Mai)
Subject: Re: Normalization w/ Hanoi
Organization: University Of Wollongong
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 92 02:35:28 GMT

Many thanks to Max for his generous comments about my article. This is
true to the spirit of debaters. I am sorry to say this but the ability
to listen criticisms from others is not very strong in the psych. of
the Vietnamese. The Western psych. is generally aggressive but the 
people do listen to what the oppositions have to say. Count one up for 
the genetleman.

Firstly let me answer why the Vietnamese people sold themselves (or being
sold by their government). It is simple because they are so poor. This
is the same as West Germany right after the 2nd world war. Her daughters
sold their bodies to the Americans the same way. Similarly the italians
and greeks did the same thing. It is survival instincts that force people
to do despicable things. Fortunately the Vietnamese only sell resources.
Every hotel for foreign visitors have signs forbidding interaction between
local females and foreign visitors. Any official interactions must be
reported to the hotel manager (usually a German or an Australian).

Why are the people so poor? Because of foreign pressures. The chinese
has not been kind. The Khmer Rouge attacked in 1978 and force Vietnam
into her occupation of Cambodia. Foreign media did not know about
innocent Vietnamese families killed by Pon pot's raids at the border
until Australian correspondents examine the war recently. The people 
has not been given a chance! At the same time they were controlled by
the Soviet Union. The regime persecuted their oppositions the same way
Stalin did to the Soviet people. One can immagine that a fragile
economy like Vietnam facing with pressure from the Chinese, Cambodian
war, Soviet pressure for war debts, protection for Laos from the Chinese
and the great American embargo (that subjects every product that has an
US patent in any component) has no chance to rise. This is insult
to injury. Do you convert the bad by give them evil? It is true that
you have to pressure the bad if they are really BAD!!! But the regime
in Vietname is no way near Sadam Hussein, the Rangoon regime, Pinochet,
Apatheid, etc ... These regimes are after the blood of a substantial
number of their own people without any moral justification. You have 
give people a chance. Have you seen the Russians saying that democracy
is great if we have something to eat. Not now when we are starving!

Why democracy is not right for Vietnam at this point in time? It is
because democracy allows large discrepancy in opinions that inevitably
introduces division. I have no problem about forcing the regime in
Vietnam to do democratic reforms to the full extent after the people
have enough to eat. It is very hard to say that Vietnamese are hard
working! I learnt that from the Western people. The communist frame
work makes people lazy. Giving them democracy now will not make them 
work hard. They may exploit one another harder for sure! What is needed
is a substantial amount of coercion with a vision of aunited country
and economic properity. How do people do this? I leave this to the
politicians to worry about. For insignificant individuals like myself,
if I can do a little thing to help I would do my LITTLE bit. One must
remember that the impact of one individual is SMALL. Only if the whole
country has one goal, then the force will be strong like little streams
pouring into a great river.

Why do I think Vietnam will rise? I have learnt many great philosophical 
systems of the Western world. I have to confess that I did not learn
many new things. I have seen, heard and thought about things that these
systems talk about since I was little. It is all in Vietnam and its
anonymous thinkers, critics, poets and musicians. It takes a journey
of your home to see that you have everything in your backyard. All the
people need is some physical assistance and plenty of technological
assistance. It will takes many steps to achieve any results.

     - Trade with the enemies
     - Learn to forget the past and see the enemies as new friends

At the same time one must remember that MONEY is a means to an end. It
is not an end in itself. Do not take me wrong about the word enemy.
It is figurative. I have great talks with Americans who have many
practical ideas and technical knowledge. It is the good will that must
be nurtured, not the current ill will that has so much prejudice in it.

There is great prejudice between the people of North and South Vietnam.
I have learnt all along that the North is the power house of literature,
philosophy, traditional music and poetry. The south is economically
stronger. The country is like a snake. The belly is fertile but the
head is even more important. People have to be united to compete in 
this world. 

My humble advice to others is to forget about the old prejudices. One 
should be patient and wait for the right time. There is another issue
that is a bit of a concern. People like us are overseas Vietnamese.
I see myself as more of Australian than Vietnamese. It is always a
religious question about one's own identity. I myself choose to see that
I am one of the children of the world. In this way I can avoid the
conflict of loyalty. One may think about doing something for Vietnam
out of many motives

     - Loyalty & Emotional attachment
     - Samaritanism & Compassion
     - Fame & Egoism
     - $$$$$$.$$

I hope there will be more people who are directed by the first two motives.

Cheers,

Van Dao Mai
Wollongong University Australia

Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese