Journalists Miss the Real Vietnam at APEC Summit
New America Media , News Analysis, Andrew Lam, Posted: Nov 17, 2006
Editor’s Note: The Asia Pacific leaders meeting in Hanoi this weekend for the APEC summit allows the country to showcase its impressive economic growth to the world. But behind this growth are social and environmental problems that Vietnam doesn’t know how to solve. NAM editor Andrew Lam is the author of "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora" (Heyday Books, 2005), which recently won a PEN/Beyond Margins Award.
Most of the 2,000 plus international journalists in Hanoi to cover the summit for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation will probably miss the real story of Vietnam: a country going through an internal crisis.
While Vietnam is being lauded as an emerging economic tiger of Asia, behind that image are an array of chronic social and environmental problems seemingly impossible to resolve.
Since the war ended in 1975, the country's population has more than doubled, from around 35 million to 84 million. Nearly two out of three Vietnamese are too young to have any direct memory of the Vietnam War. What they do have is a new longing for the West and its stuff.
Materialism is the new ideology. These days everyone needs a cell phone, a motorcycle, and if they can afford it, a flat screen tv and a laptop. Many will do practically anything to own new toys.
When Vietnam emerged from the Cold War the forces of globalization quickly swept it up. The result is a country whose Confucian practices – modesty, frugality, respect - have been thrown out the window, especially in urban areas.
Part of the cultural revolution taking place is a sexual one. Once known for its modesty and traditional practices, the abortion rate is around 1.5 million a year, many unwanted teenage pregnancies. Statistics estimate that in only 4 years a million people will be infected with HIV. Prostitution is rampant, with some NGO estimates that there are more than 300,000 prostitutes in the country. Many other women are being trafficked to be prostitutes overseas.
Vietnam accounts for around 10% of trafficked women and children worldwide. According to UNICEF and Vietnam's Ministry of Justice as well as other groups, as many as 400,000 Vietnamese women and children have been trafficked overseas. It is a conservative estimate and doesn’t account for mail order brides where women are sent to places like Taiwan and Korea to work in brothels. And they can’t expect much protection from their government.
According to the "Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report." released last year by the U.S. State Department, Vietnam was classified as a "tier two" country, meaning that the government, makes some effort to but "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking."
For some, most worrying is the ongoing environmental degradation. In Vietnam, the word moi truong- environment – is still not a familiar word, let alone the term ‘sustainable development’. While foreign journalists love to cover the old Agent Orange story, the real environment disaster for the country is how population pressure is causing the depletion of forests, pushing the ecosystem of Vietnam to the brink.
One out of three Vietnamese depend solely on forest and forest products for their living, and the number is rising steadily, according to the United Nations Development Program. Whereas the Vietnam War destroyed close to 5 million acres of forestland, ten times that amount (some 50 million) more, has been destroyed since. Vietnam experiences terrible floods each year that have killed thousands, because there are far fewer trees in the central mountains and hills to absorb the monsoon rain.
As Vietnam's forests shrink, some of the world's rare species (including three of the world's ten mammals only recently discovered) now face extinction; the green peacock, the Java rhino, the barking deer, the Asian elephant and the rare Sao La ox. There is a lack of public awareness for the need for environmental protection, so conservation practices are rare and government policies, ineffective.
Vietnam boasts at 7.5% GNP growth, second fastest to China. Economic development needs natural resources, but no one seems to have any good answers as to what to do when the forests are gone. And economic progress does not create what the country needs, a civil society in which citizens can fully participate, steering the course of their collective future. This is only possible with real political reform; a multiparty system with true freedom of expression, something the Communist Party staunchly denies its population.
To prepare for the economic meeting Hanoi has been cleaning up for weeks. Protesting peasants and the homeless were packed off to a camp far outside Hanoi. Soldiers now patrol all quarters, especially the homes of well-known political dissidents under house arrests. Hoang Minh Chinh, Le Hong Ha, Nguyen Thanh Giang, Pham Que Duong, Hoang Tien, Nguyen Khac Toan, Nguyen Van Dai, Le Thi Cong Nhan, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, Nguyen Phuong Anh, Bach Ngoc Duong, Le Chi Quang are men and women of conscience and sorely needed to participate in discussing Vietnam’s future.
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User Comments
Viet Nguyen on Dec 11, 2006 at 01:21:55 said:
Once, YOU - a FATHER of a Big Family - woke up and recognized that you lost your job, your house was dominated by Bank because you could not prove your monthly income, your kids have no food and medical and they are sick and hungry, your wife has no money to pay bills and to buy bread for family today (example), what could up to your mind at that moment? How to keep your family servive first - I sugguest.
Not only had to keep His "Big Family" servive, Vietnam Government had to heal the country, heal each individual Vietnamese family, each individual Vietnamese's heart after the wars as well as had to self-renovate/self-restructure to keep Vietnam's map on the map of the World ... You can name what Vietnam Government and Vietnamese people have been done in last 30 years to be a Vietnam of Today. I believe that not any Government of any Nation/State in the world have never been mistake. Simple as we are all Human and as Human Being, noone is perfect.
Vietnamese have a saying "One tree can not make a mountain but three tree together can" (temp translated - my English is not that perfect to translate old Vietnamese's saying). Vietnam is always consious that He alone is not perfect that He needs YOU, He needs the cooperation from other Friends in the world to be perfect.
Vietnam is willing and desire to develop to affiliate into the World. Those facts that were brought out in the above articles may be true. However, that is also Your opportunities to be with Vietnam for the better of Vietnam and of the World. I believe that You are also one in the World that I mentioned.
I also understood the wonder of Mr. Tony Hung thru his article. I do hope you have been back Vietnam already. My Viet Kieu friends from Europe, USA went back Vietnam for good and they love that place now. Vietnam is not a place of HOPE but a place of ACTION for people who love Vietnam now. We are learning hard and working hard to have a better Vietnam in the eyes of Friends but more than that, we are trying to love Vietnam thru actions and encourage others also love Vietnam by that way.
I am not a journalist, just by chance read your articles and would like to share some thought with you all. I am a Vietnamese from the Centre of Vietnam, who was born just few years before the end of the American War in Vietnam. War in my memory was just the hard time of every single Vietnamese family after the war, lacking of food, lacking of medical, lacking of every basic needs of living. War in my memory was a crying sound some late nights from a neighbour who had got bad news from their faraway members. War in my memory was a "laughing" when my grandmom suddenly woke up during a nap and ran into an old shelter behind our small house, she must be in a dream of a normal boombing during the war time. War in my memory was hard childhood that we all lived with my grandmom and just met my Parents very few times a year because they had continued to work very hard away from home after the war. It was also in my memory the pains of my dad whenever the weather was bad, or a veteran played an old music instrument by his remained hand, some old shelters last from the war around our small village became places for us to play together, old and torn books we had to share at school ... Observed, experienced and growth up with all that, I knew how Vietnam and my parents generations had been done to have today for us. And please have faith on young generations of Vietnam though they donot have enough "direct memory about the war". If you catch up with the news from Vietnam recently regards to what the young generations are doing to help poor people, poor children from poor places all over Vietnam, how they study, how they work, how they connect Vietnam with the region and the world thru their actions etc.
Few days ago, I read an article by Zoko - John Lennon's wife - over all her message "let heal the wounds together", she said "As the widow of one who was killed by an act of violence, I don't know if I am ready yet to forgive the one who pulled the trigger". That is understandable because again we are all human. Someone has said "Forgive is an art of living". How many people in this life are good at "art" though.
Anyway, Vietnam is different, we do not think of forgive/forgiven/forget/forgotten but we do think of how to heal the wounds by open our mind, open our heart to have more "FRIENDS" who love Vietnam by their real acts. I wish if I could have said something thru this sharing.
Vietnam is just a young "tiger" of Asia if someone has mentioned that and as a young "tiger", He still needs the supports from the World Family to growth. Again, that are all opportunities for YOU to be with Vietnam now.
Wish best wishes!
Singapore, 12 Dec 2006
Sid on Nov 26, 2006 at 05:46:07 said:
This is a great article. Simply denying that the problems exist will not make the problems go away. Economic development is great but development has to be intelligently implemented rather than in a pell mell fashion with no regards for anything else. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" Lord Acton.
Vietnam will create new prolems if the space for debate will not open up.
VanTran on Nov 21, 2006 at 04:09:50 said:
Andrew,
Your piece presents some major problems Vietnam faces, like many other third world countries. There are two points I want to make: 1) When we talk about "forces of globalization" & "materialism" as the "new ideology" without any clear reference to the roots of these global economic, political, & cultural forces, we do a disservice to our readers. In other words, where do the world's peoples learn to value "materialism," to value Coke-Cola, Nike, & other goods at the risk of environment devastation? What are these "forces of globalization"? Where do they come from & how do they affect poor countries & its peoples? From the perspective & critique you present I picture most readers will only point their fingers & wave their South Vietnam flag at Vietnam & its government, which should be held accountable but along with other wealthier countries.
And 2) The ecological issues you raise are trumped to the economic & geopolitical goals of not only Vietnam, but of the U.S., China, & other foreign countries as well as foreign investments. You talked about how real political reform in Vietnam modeled after that of perhaps the U.S. (with its multiparty system) is the way to change the course of Vietnam's future. But perhaps those of us in the U.S. should examine our own country's state of affairs. As an American I highly doubt that I & others in civil society have the same power as U.S. political, military, & corporate elites do to "steer the course of our collective future".
In addition, the environmental & sex trafficking issues you raise are real issues that we face in the States. (Al Gore's been on the global warming educating tip as of late!) I wonder how much environmental chaos the U.S. has caused for the peoples & lands of Afghanistan & Iraq, as well as to the people (mostly communities of color) along the Gulf Coast & in poor U.S. urban neighborhoods.
Van Tran
Tony Hung on Nov 17, 2006 at 09:53:56 said:
President Bush is on his way to visit Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) on November 17-18, the second American President to visit this communist nation since the end of the war over 31 years ago. I can only wonder what is going through the president's mind as he is about to land in a country where men of his generation once fought against, and meeting a regime that has inflicted pains for millions.
-->For this Vietnamese American, Vietnam brings back mixed feelings of the old and new. Days before Saigon fell in 1975, I was a nine-year-old child sitting alone on a C-130 on my way to the Philippines. I still can remember that day vividly: The sad faces of the South Vietnamese people sitting on the floor surrounding me as I was wondering to myself what in the world was happening; the crying noises coming from strangers among the crowd; and the words of comfort from a stranger who had been asked to watch over me. At that moment I knew my world was falling apart, little did I realized that the whole world was also falling apart for the South Vietnamese people.
I continue to cherish my special memories of the old Vietnam, because they played a crucial part in my life to help me get through my sixteen-year separation from my family. Yet the new Vietnam gives me a sense of peace as I try to carve out new special memories for my roller-coaster life. How is it possible that I can travel back nine times after the war to a country where I once called home, enter the house where once I grew up, and sleep soundly through the night in the same bed that I had slept in since I was a baby? The only things that have changed in my house are the appearances on the people who mean the world to me: The slouch on my father's back as he walks to greet me; the gray hair on my mother's head as she leans forward to kiss me; and the makeup on my younger sisters' faces to show their older brother how much they have grown up since the days we played together as little children. The love we have for each other remains stronger than life.
Is this another one of my Vietnam dreams? How is it possible that an American President is visiting a place where the sound of American bombs used to wake me up during the night? Where the government whom he is meeting with had sent millions of people like my father to reeducation camps after the war for their association with the West? A place where hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people died on the rough seas while trying to escape a regime that had denied them their basic human rights?
They say that time heals wounds. As a leader of a great nation, the president needs to look out for America's interest. Perhaps he, too, has put aside memories of what he did during the Vietnam War. We all must move on…
Vietnam continues to be a place of hope: Hope for a better future for the young generation; hope that time will continue to heal the physical and emotional scars for the old generation; hope that the Communist government will come to their sense and give democracy to the Vietnamese people; and hope that all future American presidents will think of Vietnam before committing American troops on foreign soil.