From: kbui@sje.MENTOR.COM (Karen Bui)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: [POL] Dr. CHT's thesis revisit
Date: 4 Nov 92 18:13:14 GMT
Organization: Saigon.COM PubAccess UNIX(tm), Sillicon Valley CA  (408)739-1520


> In a recent announcement in The-Ky magazin, Dr. Cao Huy Thuan made it clear 
> that the book "Dao Thien Chua va chu nghia Thuc Dan tai VN" was translated
> and published WITHOUT HIS PERMISSION, and it does not neccessarily reflect
> his current opinion.
> Be carefull when you read junk book. 
> 
> Khanh Nguyen

Dear Khanh Nguyen,

I want to continue your story on Dr. Cao Huy Thua^`n's complaint about the 
Vietnamese version of his thesis.

He did publish the letter rejecting the Vietnamese version of his thesis. 
But then he allowed his original work to be published by the YALE Center 
For International And Area Studies which co-published with the Centre de 
Relations Internationales et de Science Politique Universite d'Amiens, 
Paris in the title "Les Missionaires et la Politique Coloniale Francaise
au Vietnam (1857-1914)".

In this book, he wrote the foreword as follows:     

     "This book is based on a doctoral thesis that I submitted to the
     University of Paris in 1969. For over twenty years I have hesitated to 
     publish it. Today two considerations have convinced me to do so: first, 
     without my prior knowledge, a Vietnamese translation, the QUALITY of 
     which I deplore, appeared in the United States; and second, an academic 
     institution in the US offered to publish the ORIGINAL, an offer for which 
     I feel deeply honored.
     
     ...
     
     My aim in this work has been to reproduce as thoroughly as possible the 
     relevant historical documents found in various French archives and then to
     analyze and synthesize them for the reader. It seems to me that there is
     no more honest way to learning about the past than to bring to light these
     documents, which have lain dormant for too long, and to listen to their 
     account of the darkest and most painful episode in the history of Vietnam."
     
Do you get his message? Let me help you. "Di.ch ca'i gi` ma` do+? e.t - Ne`
ba?n chi'nh cu?a tui ne` - va<n phong ngon la`nh la<'m ki`a ma` lua^.n a'n tie^'n 
si~ chu+' dda^u pha?i sa'ch tie^?u thuye^'t ai muo^'n in thi` in " - Get it?

You see, he valued his work so much that he not only rejected the poor 
translation of his thesis but also wanted it to be published by a renowned 
publisher such as YALE SouthEast Asia Studies. 

Dear my friend, 

If you try to deny, to twist, to ignore the painful truth, it won't help you 
pass the heavenly gates. It only shows how you project yourself which is more 
as a Catholic than a Vietnamese. 

Besides, I don't want to discourage you, but there are currently two doctoral 
theses that I know of which studied Vietnam during that dark period of history. 
"Christianism et Colonialism au Vietnam 1875-1914" by Dr. CHT and "L'Empire 
Vietnamien face a` la France et a` la Chine" by Yoshiharu Tsuboi, a Japanese 
professor.

Even though, the VN Catholics have been fighting very hard to hide many 
historical facts that are unfavorable to them, Vietnam history is not totally 
in the dark. There are many books were written with reliable documents about
the shameless betrayal of the VN Catholics towards their beloved country and
countrymen. Until the VN Catholics learn to reconcile with their gruesome past 
to correct their behavior in the future, you can be assured of more such books 
to come.

I wonder why the VN Catholics haven't learnt from Pope John Paul? On behalf 
of the Catholic Church, last week, he publicly apologized to the whole world 
the Catholic Church's mistake of putting Galileo in jail for his speaking 
the truth which then was condemned as heresy. 

Honor and live with the truth. It makes the difference between the person with 
or without a concscience. 

KB
                          
PS Do you want to buy the ORIGINAL doctoral thesis of Dr. CHT? remember it's
   written in French. 

   Send check or money order $25.00 make payable to Yale SouthEast Asia Studies

              Yale Southeast Asia Studies
              Box 13A Yale Station
              New Haven, CT 06520 USA