June 26, 2008
HOUSTON — In the heart of Houston’s Asian community on Wednesday, hundreds of Vietnamese-Americans did something that they would never have been able to do in their native homeland – protest against the prime minister.
Nguyen Tan Dung, the leader of the communist country, is scheduled to be in Houston on Thursday to talk trade with an industry trade group. However, the Vietnamese leader is not welcome, said protesters. “We feel that if we stay quiet and if we don’t do anything, then it’s not going to get any better back in Vietnam,” said protestor Khiem Bui.
Vu Than Thuy is a radio host and the president of Radio Saigon, AM 900. The radio station considered to be the beacon for the nation’s third largest population of Vietnamese-Americans here in Houston. From behind the microphone, she laid out why the community should protest the prime minister’s visit.
“You have to look at someone’s background, to history [for] a very good lesson to us to learn from,” said Thuy, as she pointed to photos on the radio station’s wall that chronicled her journey from a war-torn Vietnam to the United States.
The protests centered mainly on the call for a stand against human rights violations they claim the country is guilty of. Most in the crowd were looking to U.S. leaders to press Dung on that issue before any talk of trade.
Even some in Congress requested that President Bush, who met with the prime minister on Tuesday, press Dung on human rights violation charges.
“We talked about freedom. Religious and political freedom, and I told the prime minister that I though the strides that the government is making toward religious freedom is noteworthy,” Bush said.
In a translated statement, Dung said both sides have agreed to “address humanitarian issues left over by the war,” but he did not say if those issues included what protesters claim are the jailing of dissidents and journalists who have been critical of the government’s corruption.
“We have to do this for the people (and) our relatives still in Vietnam,” said protester Le Van. “We want to have more trade for our people. That way we can raise the living standard, but not for the benefit of those who rob the people.”
Out of the hundreds of people at Wednesday night’s protest, Anh Nguyen’s tears stood out the most.
The 50-year-old said she came to Houston 16 years ago. “They got her and my grandpa in concentration camps and they made them work and tortured them,” her son said as Nguyen’s interpreter. “So now she hates Communists.”
That abuse continues today, and the government is corrupt, protesters claimed.
They say the war in Vietnam may be over, but their fight for freedom is far from over.
