NEWS ANALYSIS, FEBRUARAY 22, 2003.
New York, Cultural Parade, 2000
THE VIETNAM FLAG
uyyyu
On January 31, the State of Virginia Lower House approved a bill
concerning the flag of Vietnam. Bill HB-2829 passed by the House with 68/28
votes, honors the former Republic of Vietnam's flag with three red bars on a
golden background, and would require that the RVN flag, rather than the current
yellow star on red flag of the Vietnam Communist Party, be displayed at any
public function. Virginia Del. Robert
D. Hull (D-Fairfax) sponsored the bill.
The
key article of the bill states that: “... the people of the
former Republic of Vietnam were valiant in their resistance to the aggression
of communist North Vietnam and that refugees from the Republic of Vietnam who
emigrated to the United States of America and settled in the Commonwealth of
Virginia should be honored and remembered for their sacrifices such that the
only flag depicting the country of Vietnam that may be displayed in any
[state-sponsored] public function shall be the flag of the former Republic of
Vietnam.”
The bill was then sent to the State Senate
for approval. It created immediate reactions from the Communist leaders in
Vietnam and the United States government.
Hanoi party-controlled media and
party-led rallies angrily protested the bill, arguing that the former RVN was
defeated, so its flag is not representing anyone.
Officials in the State Department and the
Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell as well, released statements against the
bill. They were arguing that the relations between Hanoi and Washington are in
favorable conditions, and the bill, if enacted by Virginia, could damage the diplomatic relations. Virginia's bill is the only
one like it in the country, officials say.
At last, by pressure from
Washington, the Virginia Senate Committee on Rules held back the bill from the
Senate floor. The bill was killed.
Last year, Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner
(D) declared that June 19, 2002, would be Vietnamese American Freedom Fighter
Day and that the South Vietnamese flag is an "eternal symbol of hope and
love of freedom."
Del. Robert D. Hull said the proposal
aims to support democracy over communism and remove a painful symbol, the
communist flag. In Vietnam, "free people that were defeated now live under
communist rule." Hull said he introduced the
legislation at the behest of the sizable Vietnamese-American community in his
suburban Washington district, many of which fled South Vietnam when the
Communist forces overran Saigon on April 30, 1975. Hull
vowed to press on. "Just because the State Department objects
doesn't mean we won't go forward," he said. He will sponsor a similar bill
next year, he vowed.
The overseas Vietnamese exiles
stand that the red-bar-on-golden flag is much more symbolic of the nation of
Vietnam than the Communist yellow star. The RVN flag was elected in 1948 by the
first nationalist government after France President Vincent Auriol formally
signed a covenant with ex-Emperor Bao Dai, recognizing Vietnam as an
independent nation. Though the Bao Dai government existed with limited
sovereignty under French power, along with the flag, nominally represented the
people of Vietnam without any adherence to a party, a religion, a social class
or a group of interests.
The First Republic of Vietnam
was established in 1956 with ultimate sovereignty after French forces withdrew
from Indochina. The first RVN National Assembly, who passed the 1956
Constitution, maintained the flag. It turned down a proposal for a new banner
by some nationalist leaders, seeing that the flag was a modification of the
traditional colors of the nation and the symbol of the Kingdom of Vietnam.
About 250,000 Vietnamese
fighting men of the anti-Communist side have sacrificed their lives under the
flag. It is somewhat a part of the larger symbol of the heroic American and
Allied soldiers who were fighting for the freedom and prosperity of South
Vietnam. It deserves great honors in America and its Allied nations
participating in the Vietnam War.
The RVN flag, the exiles
believe, will be restored whenever the Communist regime ends in Vietnam, the
way the Russian flag of pre-1917 era has been raised again on the Kremlin since
1992 when the Soviet Union disintegrated.
Anti-Communist Vietnamese
reject the yellow star flag of the Communist regime because of several reasons.
First, the yellow star banner was originally the flag of the Vietnam Communist
Party since the early 1940s. The VCP was then operating under the disguised
name as Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, or Viet Minh. After January 6, 1946
when the first National Assembly was elected, the majority of the non-Communist
representatives endorsed the move to replace that yellow-star banner with
another that would be selected by a free contest and would not stand for any
political propensity.
A competition sponsored by two
nationalist newspapers introduced some of the best among scores of entries,
which were later sent to the National Assembly for a final approval. The debate
of the issue, however, was delayed several times while the Communist secret
services launched a bloody purse only second to the barbaric Land Reform 10
years later. The political cleansing campaign eliminated a great number of
non-Communist patriotic personages.
Not until November 1946, a few
weeks before the War of Resistance against the French broke out, was the new
Constitution approved by the National Assembly in a hasty session. That
constitution claimed the yellow-star banner "the official colors of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam." A large number – over 100 – of the 400
representatives were not present at the vote. They had been assassinated,
incarcerated or hiding from the great purge, or simply had not been convoked to
attend the session.
Secondly, the Viet exiles
stand that the Communist flag has been behind thousands of terrorist attacks in
South Vietnam since 1955. The colors have long become a strong reminder of
horrible murders, country buses torn into pieces by land mines, bodies of
victims buried alive in green rice fields or riddled by assassins' hand
grenades, wives and children of village militiamen beheaded, even
eviscerated... and POW torturing.
Meanwhile, the current leaders
of the Communist regime are still clinging to their predecessors' tyrannical
policies to consolidate their ruling power, acting the same ways their deceased
great bosses had been doing under their bloody flag since 1945.
Many Vietnamese Americans who
are the bill's supporters said that the White House, the Capitol and the State
Department should take into consideration the anti-American attitude of the
leaders in Hanoi. The Vietnam Communist Party still nourishes animosity that it
calls on others to forget. It does not stop humiliating the American government
and people, grabbing at any event to evoke inimical sentiment against the
Americans. It usually takes the anti-American side in international disputes
while it is eagerly currying economic favors with Washington in different
rhetoric.
Even if the American
government had to indulge Hanoi for some key interests, Washington should act
the way a good parent does towards a naughty child who sometimes needs to be
given a sound spanking, not a candy.
The Vietnamese exiles are saying that Washington has squandered its
dignity and generosity too much for too little received in return. Washington might be acting the right way in the case of HB-2829 according to
diplomatic tradition and regulation, its too hearty – and probably abject -
reaction is not to the least interests
of the American people.
*
Right after the news about bill
HB-2829 was not brought to Virginia Senate for a vote, the Council of the City
of Westminster in Southern California enacted a resolution similar to HB-2829
of Virginia. The City Council voted 5-0 for the resolution on February 19,
2003.
RESOLUTION NO: 3750
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
WESTMINSTER RECOGNIZING THE FLAG OF THE FORMER REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM AS THE
OFFICIAL FLAG OF THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE OVERSEAS.
WHEREAS, the current Vietnam Hanoi Communist Regime
continues to be a one party state ruled by an un-elected and unaccountable
government that continuously and arbitrarily infringes upon the human rights
and religious freedom of its people; and
WHEREAS, the vast majority of Vietnamese Americans
who fled Vietnam do not recognize or condone the Vietnam Communist regime; and
WHEREAS, the people of the former Republic of Vietnam
are not defeated but remain unbowed and in opposition to communism and stand
united in their commitment to freedom; and
WHEREAS, the State of California is home to the
largest Vietnamese-American population in the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, the City of Westminster is home to a higher
percentage of
Vietnamese-American residents than any other California or United States city;
and WHEREAS, the people of the former Republic of Vietnam were valiant in their
resistance to the aggression of communist North Vietnam, and refugees from the
Republic of Vietnam who emigrated to the United States of America and settled
in the City of Westminster, California, should be honored and remembered for
their sacrifices such that the only flag depicting the Nation of Vietnam shall
be the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam; and
WHEREAS, the flag of the Free Vietnamese people is
the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam, which consists of three horizontal
stripes of red (gules) upon a field of gold (or); and
WHEREAS, the flag of the one party regime currently
holding power in occupied Vietnam may be the flag of a government, but it is
not the flag of a Nation; and
WHEREAS, the culture and history of the Vietnamese
people should be celebrated and honored with the flag of the Vietnamese Nation,
not the flag of the tyrants who betrayed and rejected that glorious culture and
history; and
WHEREAS, this flag remains a poignant reminder of the
threat of communism, and the imperative of remaining vigilant in opposition to
tyranny of all forms, and to actively support human rights.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of
Westminster on this day formally recognizes the flag of the former Republic of
Vietnam as the official flag of the Vietnamese People overseas, and that this
flag may be displayed on any city owned property at any city-controlled or
sponsored Vietnamese-American event subject to the permit requirements of the
City. The City of Westminster encourages state legislators to pass a law
recognizing the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam as the official flag of
the Vietnamese-Americans overseas, and encourage the local school districts to
adopt a similar Resolution recognizing the flag of the former Republic of
Vietnam as the official flag to be displayed in the schools.
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED this 19th day of
February 2003.
AYES: COUNCIL MEMBER: RICE, PARIS, FRY,
MARSH, QUACH
NOES: COUNCIL MEMBER: NONE
ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBER: NONE
MARGIE L. RICE, MAYOR
*
The Virginia bill HB-2829 expired, but
the Westminster Resolution 3750 stands fast. The flag supporters' effort is
worthwhile. It attracts some considerable attention and might have helped many
people better understand the distorted realities of the Vietnam
Communist-Nationalist conflict that has been dividing the nation for the last
54 years.
Most Vietnamese anti-Communist patriots hope
that their flag of liberty and democracy will be so honored everywhere on the
land of freedom.
***
=====