A tale of two regions: how Vietnam manages to control the ethnic regions?

I've spent most of my times trying to go to various ethnic regions across the country. But two of the most important ethnic regions in Vietnam happen to be in the western frontier of Vietnam. The first is called Northwest (Tay Bac). The second is in the south, called Central Highlands, though the Vietnamese translation is Tay Nguyen (Western Highlands) made it conflicted. The odd thing I know from them is their vary fascinating and unique history, these people are not just only different from the lowland Vietnamese by heritage, but even by culture. Yet the government of Vietnam maintains a very multifaceted relationship with both regions, but history may tell there is nothing similar outside the common background of being from the ethnic minorities' zones.

Northwest Vietnam: kind of... a model...

Northwest Vietnam is composed of six provinces today, they're Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Son La, Hoa Binh, Lao Cai and Yen Bai. Some provinces like Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho and Ha Giang are sometimes viewed to be part of the Northwest region. It is a blending point of Vietnam because of its uniqueness, where the ethnic minorities constituted over 70% of the population, as well as the hazardous terrains of the land.

Northwest Vietnam has occupied a significant portion of Vietnamese history. Though Vietnamese people, or the Kinh ethnic, are the dominant group, much of the ancient Vietnamese history has to be traced from the Northwest, where historians and archaeologists believe the origin of Vietnamese people first rooted here. The first Hung King of Van Lang, an ancient Vietnamese kingdom, established the nation in Phu Tho, which is adjacent to Northwest. When it came to fighting against the Chinese occupation, Northwest had been a major base of guerrilla activities against Chinese dynasties, as the Chinese were too afraid to enter. During that time, it was thought that the Tai tribes, consisting of groups like White Tais, Black Tais, Yao and Nung; as well as Hmongs and Lolo, began migrating south and settled here alongside Muong and Chut people before some of them eventually headed further south, so it is also very significant for the historians from Thailand and Laos who wanted to search for their ancestors.

Throughout early times after regaining independence, Vietnamese dynasties like Early Le, Ly and Tran dynasties maintained a dual policy, fighting to claim the territory from Nanzhao-Dali and sought to respect the locals of fear it would provoke tensions between the rulers. The tribes of Northwest eventually got permission to govern it autonomously, and though there had been wars, the Vietnamese Emperor also bestowed these tribal warriors with deep respect. No better example was Nung Tri Cao (Nong Zhigao), a Nung Tai warrior who rebelled for the autonomy and independence of Dali. He allied with Vietnam in the war against the Song dynasty, but later turned against the Vietnamese when he accused the Ly dynasty of not honouring the autonomy. He was beheaded in 1055, but the Vietnamese ruler subsequently gave the posthumous title "Khâu Sầm Đại Vương", or Nung King, to avoid repercussions and paying respect. By giving the title, the Vietnamese Ly government was able to fight the Song dynasty from 1076-1078 with the support of the local tribes.

Nung Tri Cao (Nong Zhigao), a Tai warrior of Dali and an example of Vietnam's multifaceted tie with the Northwestern minorities.

It'd be hard to mention what would happen without the tribes here. The Vietnamese Emperors depended strongly on the Northwest natives to fend off foreign invasions and expanding territories. The successes of Vietnamese independence war against the Ming occupation from 1407-1427 could not be done if not for the tribes providing shelters and ammunitions. The successful expeditions to Lan Xang, Lan Na and Shan States in 1470s were also crucially played by the tribes. Of course, it didn't rule out rebellions against the central government, but in the majority, as long as the Vietnamese Emperors kept the business of the locals intact throughout a network of chiefdoms, they continued to pay tributes to Dai Viet.

From 17th century, the Later Le dynasty, under the control of Trinh Lords, issued the establishment of Sip Song Chau Tai, translated to 12 domains of the Tais. The Vietnamese government did not interfere and let the locals handle the problems by themselves. The Nguyen dynasty in 19th century sought to wrestle the power from the chiefdoms by imposing harsh taxes, but this provoked rebellion by Nong Van Van, a Tai chiefdom appointed by the government in the Northwest. He was a talented military strategist and caused hardship for the government for two years before getting burnt in the forest of Tham Pat, now part of Cao Bang province. The rebellion forced the Nguyen dynasty to withdraw some of their demands to ensure the local governance uninterrupted.

The French came to Vietnam in mid-19th century and conquered Northwest only in the 1880s, but they found the population here hardly paid loyalty to anybody but themselves. So the French reorganised the region, making it part of Vietnam's Tonkin. The French however played around by empowering various tribes, while antagonising the other tribes as part of divide-and-conquer strategy. The French introduced opium to the region and Deo Van Long, the son of late Deo Van Tri and a White Tai lord, also the chiefdom of the newly French-established Tai Federation, expanded the business. Corruption was rampant because the French saw him as the only ally to fight the Viet Minh.

Deo Van Long, the last King of Tai Federation.

But Deo Van Long and the French miscalculated the grievances against the French government. The Viet Minh seized the opportunity by telling the other hill tribes like the Muong, Yao, Tay, Nung, Hmong people to revolt. These people were mostly neglected or mistreated by the French and Deo Van Long's White Tai cronies, The loss of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 was partly explained by the French ignorance, the French completely failed to realise the pro-Viet Minh sentiment among the natives.

Even before the battle of Dien Bien Phu, it should be noticed that nine years earlier, the region was also where the nascent People's Army of Vietnam gaining strength. Though created in Cao Bang in the Northeast, it was in the Northwest provinces that the PAVN gathered strength and power throughout vital networks of partnership, thanked for common opposition to French and Japanese colonialism. Despite massive leaflet propaganda dropping from the French Air Force, most Northwest people maintained loyalty to the Viet Minh. Some of the weapons sending from China to Vietnam during that era was also through the mountainous Northwest.

By the end of French rule, several Tai tribes fled with the French, out of fear of reprisals for supporting France. To avoid ethnic tensions, Ho Chi Minh, the leader of Democratic Republic of Vietnam, or North Vietnam, a communist state, announced the establishment of autonomous Northwest, first named Tai-Hmong autonomous region in 1954, before changing again to Northwest Autonomous Region in 1961. It was abolished in 1975 when the communist north unified the south into its realm, but few bothered to pay attention by even then. The northwest became a major point of the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979 where it was raided and attacked by Chinese troops, with Lai Chau and Lao Cai bombarded. The Northwest was left undeveloped due to constant tensions and border shelling between Vietnam and China until 1989 when military demobilisation took place, three years after Vietnam announced economic reform. Only then, Northwest Vietnam really started to develop and for now, it has been largely peaceful, though sporadic problems like drug smuggling and human trafficking exist, ethnic separatism has never been the main concern here.

Northwest Vietnam is also where many renowned Vietnamese figures came to headline. Loc Van Lung, one of the founder of PAVN, was of Northwestern origin. Duong Mac Thach, another founder of PAVN, though born in Cao Bang, was also of distant Northwest origin. The duo brothers Bui Tien Dung (Bùi Tiến Dũng) and Bui Tien Dung (Bùi Tiến Dụng), who made fame in 2019 AFC Asian Cup, have ancestors from the Northwest because of their Muong ethnicity. Nong Duc Manh and Tong Thi Phong, two members of the Communist Politburo, the former were once President of Vietnam and the latter was the spokeswoman, also come from Northwest. Even today, despite the government's attempt to centralise the power in Northwest, they do not dare to disrupt the activities of the population here. Not to mention Nung Tri Cao.

Central Highlands: not so easy

Central Highlands in Vietnam is actually a bit complicated. Even by the name in English and Vietnamese contrasted with each other. In Vietnamese, it is called "Tây Nguyên" (Western Highlands), but the French and Americans adopted the name "Central Highlands" because they found it lies between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, so the heart. The region was not Vietnamese even at the first place.

Back a thousand year ago, the Cambodian ancient states of Chenla and later Khmer Empire wrestled with Champa, an ancient Cham state in Central Vietnam, and the hilly region exchanged between these two several times. But none could implement control successfully in the mountain tribes, who remained fiercely independent. The ineffectiveness of the Cambodians and the Chams to place the highlands into their commands meant it acted only as a buffer zone for both nations.

But from 15th century onward, thing changed. First, the rise of Ayutthaya Siam coincided with a deteriorating Khmer Empire. Second, the Vietnamese from the north advanced south destroying the Islamising Champa Kingdom and annexed it into the Vietnamese territory. The territory was then instead, contested between the Siamese and the Vietnamese, which by the end of 18th century, completely conquered by Vietnam. The Vietnamese Emperors, however, didn't wish to interrupt the local rule, so they refrained from relying on the local officials to maintain order.

It was long gone. The French conquest of Vietnam meant that the French were aware of the highlands. So to impose its rule, it sent Vietnamese settlers to exploit the fertile land. The French at the same time built infrastructures as well as Christianised the tribes. However, the French failed to make Catholicism the dominant religion, instead, their American allies did a better job converting the tribes to American Christianity, Baptism and Protestantism became the biggest Christian dominions among the hill people. It was still enough to make these people increasingly differed from the mainlanders.

Thus, the unique feature. The hill tribes became grateful for French Christianisation. But at the same time, they resented the French for bringing the Vietnamese settlers and this fueled conflict, serving French ambitions of divide-and-rule. The rise of Việt Minh put challenge to all of the French system and the French defeat in the battle of Điện Biên Phủ in the northwest was a blow, the French were forced to vacate from the nation. The hill tribes did not experience the war, but it was put into the rule of a tinpot dictator Ngô Đình Diệm, who carried no different ambitions than the communists in subjugating the hill people.

Montagnards with American advisors during the Vietnam War.

This really represented a problem for America. They were in the wrong impression that the Montagnards - the French name given to the hill tribes of Central Highlands, would side with South Vietnam for a common anti-communist front. In reality, just like the communist North, the Republic South did nothing to improve the lives of the Montagnards. Ngô Đình Diệm imposed a forced assimilation program with the aim to dismantle the Degars (the original names of the Hill people). Subsequent military dictators of South Vietnam also showed little sympathy to the Montagnards. There was no military collaboration being made directly between the two, when Montagnard fighters were attacked by the communists and villages pillaged by North Vietnamese force, the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) refused to intervene, which worsened the relations. The only exception was of joint American missions to rout out the communists. Montagnards owed the debt by American missionaries, hence their respect for America.

The United States failed to see out the situation until the shocking Degar rebellion of 1974 that the ARVN decided to massacre more than 1,000 Degars under the pretext of communist threats. By that moment, the U.S. realised they got into a trap that they could not imagine, and it gave the Northern dictatorship a reason to break from the Paris treaty of 1973, invaded a demoralised South Vietnam. As repatriation, the United States agreed to host South Vietnamese and Montagnard refugees, but their antagonism stays to even today. Unsurprisingly, when I watched Vietnamese nationalist demonstration against the communist regime in America, virtually no Montagnards attend in solidarity. Simultaneously, the former Vietnamese refugees also downplay the Montagnards, paying little respect to these hill people.

The unified communist dictatorship that gained power in 1975 inherited the violent background of South Vietnam-Montagnard tensions. Since Montagnards also deeply disliked North Vietnam as well, the war continued unabated. The communists proved to be more successful, of course after killing more than thousands spanning from 1975-1992, when the FULRO insurgency led by the Montagnards was at the height. China and the United States supplied weapons for FULRO to sustain the insurgency, but with Vietnamese communist dictatorship initiated a series of reforms from 1986 onward, FULRO's support decreased and eventually disappeared in 1992. But in the mind of the communist regime, FULRO still exists, best known for the 2001 failed protests and 2004 riots in Central Highlands where the communist government blamed the FULRO even it was long gone.

The communists keep practising the policy dated from French rule and South Vietnam, sending settlers and banished the Degars into their jungle. Of course, not all Vietnamese are anti-Montagnard, though. One Montagnard has been elevated to the status of a hero by the Vietnamese for fighting the French invaders, Đinh Núp - I was taught about him back in school and there is a movie about him. Currently, one of Vietnam's models and top 5 finisher in the Miss World is also of Montagnard descent, madam H'Hen Niê.

Đinh Núp when he was young.

But still, the mainstream relations are mostly hostile. Please remind that the conflict between Montagnards and the Vietnamese is a recent one, but has been galvanised by the Vietnam War. The communist regime remains sceptical to the depth of the hill people and would do everything to alienate them. The Degar refugee crisis in Cambodia, a country where it has a pro-Vietnamese leader, Hun Sen, ruling from 1993, best examined the circumstances. It may change, but not likely now. Hence, military and police are omnipresent, though less frequent today.

Final speak

To be fair, controlling these regions have been very difficult because of its hilly, mountainous terrains that prevented foreigners from making a full-fledged connection. It is only now that I began to discuss, but still, elements that differ both Northwest and Central Highlands are huge.

Northwest Vietnam has complicated but nonetheless friendlier to the Vietnamese government and its people, because of longer, deeper and traditional connection. Moreover, these tribes are less likely to be involved in separatist movements. This is absent with Central Highlands, due to the oddball. It was only annexed to Vietnam from the late 18th century, exploited by France in 20th century and Vietnam War.

Today, Central Highlands are now open to guests, but in some areas, foreigners and even locals are still strictly forbidden. Northwest doesn't have the same issues. Businesspeople are working and enriching throughout the mountains. Yet when it comes to potential risks of rebellions, Central Highlands will always represent higher risk than Northwest and is also possibly an open prison.