Before the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War this week, the leader of the communist party in power in Lam took a reconciliative tone towards the people of the former South Vietnam.
His long comment, published in State Media two days before the birthday, won praise at home and cautious hope, mixed with skepticism, among those who fled the country after 1975.
The anniversary of April 30 is most often celebrated at the national level as a reunification of the Northern Communist and South Vietnam in the United States, and it was the first time that the leader of the Communist Party has used the opportunity to recognize political differences and call for reconciliation. He dispensed with the usual glorification of party achievements and severe criticism of enemies.
“Vietnam is one, the Vietnamese people are one,” wrote Lam, the secretary general of the party, citing the founding communist leader Ho Chi Minh.
He referred to those from the old Republic of Vietnam – the official name of South Vietnam – like “people on the other side”. He said that “despite the differences in political views”, they were “all Vietnamese”. He also called for “no reason for the Vietnamese – sharing the same line, the same mother with the CO, which always aspires to a unified and prosperous country – to continue to bear hatred, division and separation in their hearts.”
AU CO refers to a goddess in a myth of Vietnamese creation which symbolizes the mother of her civilization.
Lam has withdrawn the use of terms such as “American imperialism”, “hostile forces”, “invasion” and the “puppet government” which are a stock of the party of the party referring to the war. He also started their use again in a speech he delivered on the occasion of the anniversary of April 30, which was marked with a large military parade in Ho Chi Minh Ville, formerly Saigon.
In comparison, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the end of the war in 2015, its predecessor Nguyen Phu Trong used the term “anti-American” 14 times.
The change of tone praised social media.
“I believe that Mr. Tran Thanh Canh, who regularly expresses his point of view on other political and social issues, wrote:” I am really happy and full of hope for a bright future for our country! “
Faced with historical truth
Not everyone shares their optimism that a change is in the air in Vietnam, which is under a rule to a party. Political dissent is often punished with hard prison terms.
Dr. Nguyen Quang A, one of the main criticisms of Vietnam, expressed his skepticism, saying: “Anyone inside Vietnam was convinced?”
He said the government was to change its treatment of Thich Minh followers killed – a popular Vietnamese monk whose popularity has made him an object of official suspicion – and others in the country before “talking about pretty words”.
The lawyer seen Duke Khanh, currently living in Canada, said that as one of the legions of “boat people” who escaped from Vietnam after the communist control, he read in Lam’s article “with a feeling of calm, mixed with cautious hope”.
In a gap in relation to anterior official rhetoric, Lam wrote in the article that he had met “many people from” the other side “” and he admitted that they thought that these people “although they could have political opinions, historical experiences or different living conditions …
But Khanh observed that true reconciliation requires “in the face of all the historical truth”. Among these truths, he said, the “pain that millions of compatriots endured after April 30, 1975.”
In addition to the millions of boats that fled the country, many of the former Republic of Vietnam had confiscated property and were placed in rehabilitation camps. It is estimated that more than 165,000 people died in the camps.
South soldiers cemetery
A question of lasting concern for those who were on the losing side during the war is the treatment by the government of the military cemetery of Bien Hoa, outside Ho Chi Minh-Ville, where the soldiers of the Republic of Vietnam died during the war are buried.
In the United States, many Vietnamese organizations have made efforts over the years to find ways to restore this cemetery, but have encountered many difficulties from the Vietnamese government.
It is estimated that more than 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died during the war and about 1 million from the north.
Phillip Nguyen is President of Viet Benevoltance, an organization having the mission of finding the remains of soldiers of the Republic of Vietnam and of restoring the well Hoa cemetery, in the hope of “healing the past and reconciling the future”.
He questioned LAM proposed reconciliation, saying that “it is easier to say than to do”.
“The military cemetery of Béen Hoa is still forbidden to be renovated. Thousands of veterans with disabilities of the Republic of Vietnam are now old, about 80 or 90 years old, sick, but are still oppressed and do not receive the help of friends, parents or former comrades,” Nguyen told RFA.
However, it remains full of hope.
“I hope that under LAM, there will be a difference. I have great hopes. It is very easy for them to prove that they really want reconciliation. If they want, they can do it,” he said.
In Lam has made positive statements on the Republic of Vietnam in recent months.
On January 9, he said: “In the 1960s, Saigon – Ho Chi Minh City was a bright point, the pearl of the Far East, Singapore was not as good.” Then, on February 13, he said: “Looking at Singapore, in the past, they said that going to Cho Ray hospital for medical treatment was a dream.” Cho Ray Hospital in Saigon was built by the government of the Republic of Vietnam.
These LAM declarations have also been received positively, but so far, little have been based on the secretary general’s conciliation words.
“Reconciliation cannot stop in declarations; it must be demonstrated by concrete actions, in particular on the part of the authorities, to restore the confidence of those who have been victims of history,” said lawyer for Duc Khanh who asked Lam to prove his good will.
Edited by Mat Pennington.