Silent Lonesome Man

Every April 30th, two worlds exist between Vietnamese people. In Vietnam, where the communists gained unified power since 1975, the communists declared the day as "Liberation of the South" and made it a national holiday to observe. The regime also spends millions of dollars each year to celebrate and to demonstrate the might of the communists and how life in Vietnam has changed under the rule of the Communist Party. Some Vietnamese diasporas, mostly in former Comecon or in East Asia, do celebrate alongside their compatriots in Vietnam. Then, there is another world. Every year, the same day since 1975, Vietnamese gather, not to welcome, but to mourn the loss of the Republic of Vietnam, or South Vietnam, to the hand of the communist North. They have observed the fall of Saigon, first in 1976 and this has become a common practice of Vietnamese diasporas living in Western Europe, North America and Australasia - where the loyalty with the yellow flag and three red stripes remains ...

Speaking on the ongoing Myanmar protests, which claimed the lives of more than 500 citizens, the protest has led me to think and question the desire of the protesters, and its willingness to commit for a long term run. At the same time, my soul spun to see on Vietnam, a country that is considered as the most brutal dictatorship in Southeast Asia, even above Myanmar; yet the Vietnamese people in majority, instead of taking its stance in solidarity for democracy; have chosen a cold-blooded extrusion of democratic activists, even banishing them away. Then, I look at Vietnamese abroad. Majority of them are refugees who fled from Vietnam, and surely they are more vocal for democracy, and absolutely, they did demonstrate by calling for solidarity, supporting the Burmese protesters. Yet, their call has been mocked as a foxed move, and this was owned by an action on January 2021 that stayed as a stain forever on the status of Vietnamese former refugees. To think, can Vietnamese ever speak for ...