An Appealing Social Justice Message
An organization known as Viet Tan, or the Vietnam Reform Party, resonates with many young Vietnamese-Americans but little is still known about the reform group.
By Mike Nally
Viet Weekly Staff Writer
Twenty one-year-old Ethan Nguyen, a student at UC San Diego studying history and international relations, joined a crowd of about 400 people during the introduction ceremony of the Viet Tan held Nov. 21 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Garden Grove.
Smartly attired in a business suit, Nguyen said he is not yet a member of Viet Tan but was drawn to the event by the party’s “social justice message,” which he found appealing.
“I’m very lucky to be born and raised in America after my parents escaped by boat from Communist Vietnam,” said Nguyen. “But I must not forget my roots. It is important for youth to be involved.”
Like Nguyen, architectural designer Tu. H. Do from Lake Forest had not made up his mind yet to join the Viet Tan organization. He wanted to hear more about the organization’s goals and objectives. Do, 38, liked the idea that every individual here has a duty to help free and reform Vietnam.
Known as Viet Tan, the organization also is referred to as the Vietnam Reform Party, or the Revolutionary Party to Reform Vietnam. Viet Tan was founded in September 1982.
San Jose businessman and Viet Tan spokesman Dung Tran underscored the duty of Vietnamese-Americans. Tran spoke at the podium, which displayed the Viet Tan logo: a white lotus-like flower against a sky blue background to symbolize the purity and unity of North-Central-South Vietnam.
“Vietnam’s 4,000 year history is a history of sacrifice of our forefathers,” Tran, 44, told the audience. Unfortunately since Vietnam has come under Communism, basic human rights are not honored. It is now time for this generation to take up responsibility of our forefathers … to retake the country and restore the rights of the people of Vietnam.
“For those of us who live here in the United States, the responsibility is much higher,” said Tran who insisted that the Viet Tan party “cannot do this by ourselves … inside or outside Vietnam.”
Viet Tan has satellite office all over the world, including France, Japan and Australia.
Viet Tan Chairman Nguyen Kim, who heads the main office in San Jose, spoke of Viet Tan’s ultimate goal. He said “a prosperous people will produce a strong nation.”
But “a strong nation,” Nguyen Kim said, does not mean just military might but a nation that is an economic power with standing in the world community. Nguyen Kim, 60, also pointed out that prosperous is not limited to the material wealth but also includes people who are culturally, intellectually and spiritually advanced.
In between speeches by Viet Tan representatives, video clips were shown of Vietnam that were critical of the policies of Hanoi. One graphic image showed a black hammer and sickle stamped over scenes of Vietnam’s haunting beauty and smiling people.
The video clips also disclosed that Viet Tan has an active underground membership inside Vietnam. Some members seen in the video had on disguises to mask their identities during on-camera interviews by major news organizations, such as CNN. In the video, one female Viet Tan member said of the Communists, “They are vile, corrupt people.”
Viet Tan members also hinted that they have some support by those in the Vietnamese Communist Party in Hanoi who are secretly in tune with the goals of the reform party.
During a Q & A session, Viet Tan representatives said that secrecy still is crucial for the group. Of the half dozen founding fathers, only Nguyen Kim is alive. The rest were ambushed in Laos while one early Viet Tan leader was reported to have committed suicide rather than fall into the hands of the Communists. Nguyen Kim said he is taking Viet Tan in a more political, as opposed to militant, direction.
Nguyen Kim also refused to answer a question on the numbers and strength of his organization, or give more details of their operations because this “would endanger his people and provide the Communists with information,” he said. One of the video clips said the Viet Tan numbers in “the thousands.”
When asked what was Viet Tan’s operating budget, Chi Thanh Dang, the only female representative of the party’s 12 member cabinet, replied that “The Communists are very cunning,” and she did not want to divulge such information. She said Viet Tan was “well funded. We are self-sufficient.”
In fact, an elderly man in the back of the room was seen handing a wad of hundred dollar bills to another gentleman seated nearby dressed in a pin-stripped suit and a fedora perched on his knee.
Nguyen Trong Viet, who leads Viet Tan’s central committee, replied to an audience query that the goal of the organization is not new.
“There have been other groups before us … like the United Front. What we are asking now is for every Vietnamese, every individual to stand with us,” Nguyen Trong Viet said.
When asked why it has taken so long — nearly 22 years — for the Viet Tan to come out in the open, Dang said, “The process is a gradual one, taken in stages, in convenient steps … much like the way I left Canada — a friend picks me up from my house, drives me to the airport where I go through security, then board the plane, and then another person picks me up and brings me to this conference.” Dang is from Toronto.
When asked if there was any competition between Viet Tan and a rival group, the Government of Free Vietnam headed by Nguyen Huu Chanh, Viet Tan Chairman Nguyen Kim replied there was room for differences of approach to freeing and reforming Vietnam.
“But we should not just focus on differences,” said Nguyen Kim, “but on how we can develop points in common. Viet Tan will work with every organization friendly to us. Our only foe is the Communist regime.”
Among the guests present were representatives from the offices of Supervisor-elect Lou Correa, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, Ly Kien Truc of Van Hoa magazine and Vietnam Restoration Party Chairman Tran Quoc Bao.
Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes welcomed all the guests on behalf of the city.
“I’m impressed with all the people here … as well as those who might have been here except they would be endangered if their presence were known,” said Leyes. “I am honored you have chosen Garden Grove as the city to introduce your party, Viet Tan. I am honored by your ideals: freedom and democracy for Vietnam.”
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