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Vietnamese war veterans protest Sen. John Kerry's aid policy.(Arts and Lifestyle)


The Boston Herald; 8/14/2002; Cox, Christopher



As he contemplates a presidential run, Sen. John F. Kerry has been reaching out to American veterans. But Kerry, a highly decorated combat veteran who commanded a Navy river-patrol boat in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War, hasn't impressed local Vietnamese veterans of that conflict.

Several of these vets plan to take part in an upcoming two-day hunger strike to protest Kerry's pro-engagement policy with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, particularly his non-supportof a congressional bill that would link further foreign aid to Hanoi's human-rights performance. The fast is part of a weeklong series of demonstrations, set to begin on Sunday, organized by members of Boston's large Vietnamese immigrant community.

"I'm very surprised he has not approached us," said Tai Le, 60, of Brockton, a former captain in the South Vietnamese army who spent a decade in re-education camps following the 1975 Communist victory.

"We were his former allies. He has totally ignored our concerns, our life here."

What chafes the veterans, as well as Vietnamese refugees who have settled here, is the legislative limbo of the Viet Nam Human Rights Act. Submitted by Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), H.R. 2833 passed in the House last Sept. 6 by an overwhelming 410-1vote. The bill would support efforts to promote democracy in the one-party state and push for progress in religious and human rights.

"We feel the bill will increase pressure on the Vietnamese government to improve its human-rights record," said Nam Van Pham, 46, a protest organizer and the former executive director of the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, who estimates about 40,000 ethnic Vietnamese live in Massachusetts. In a 2001 survey by Transparency International of corruption in 91 countries, Vietnam ranked a woeful 75th.

Activists such as Pham accuse Kerry, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, of delaying Senate action on the bill.

A Kerry aide said the bill was never referred to the Foreign Relations Committee, but added that the Senator opposes the legislation because he fears it may hinder human-rights reforms.

In a statement to the Herald, Kerry said "We're very concerned that denying aid to Vietnam would actually slow human-rights improvements while cutting off humanitarian relief already going to some of the neediest people on the planet."

The bill, which also authorizes funding for dissident groups, is "designed to provoke" Hanoi, said the Kerry aide, and could jeopardize the current work of humanitarian groups in country.

But Tien Tran, 60, of Dorchester, who spent 10 years in labor camps for serving as a South Vietnamese police officer, wants a more aggressive policy.

"In Vietnam now, there are no human rights," said Tran. ". . .We just really want him to move it along."

The 2002 State Department report on human rights paints a bleak picture of Vietnam.

"The Government's poor human rights record worsened in some respects and it continued to commit numerous, serious abuses," the report stated.

Nowhere was abuse of power more pronounced than in the Central Highlands, the home of fiercely independent hill tribes collectively known as Montagnards. During the Vietnam War, U.S. Special Forces commanded Montagnards for a decade in successful guerrilla-warfare operations against the Viet Cong.

"I came away from Vietnam probably owing my life to them," said James MacIntyre III, 61, of Essex Junction, Vt., who spent 1964 in the Central Highlands as a Green Beret medic.

With the defeat of South Vietnam, however, the Montagnards paid dearly for their opposition to the Viet Cong. Thousands spent long years in re-education camps. Many others have been persecuted for practicing Christianity. The government policy of settling ethnic Vietnamese in the Highlands, often on the most productive land, has rendered the hill people a malnourished minority in their homeland.

"It's a slow genocide," said Carl Regan, 62, of Key Biscayne, Fla., a former Green Beret now active in a humanitarian group, Save the Montagnard People. "They don't take them out and shoot them every day. They marginalize them, they don't give them enough land. They're starving."

In early 2001, Montagnard discontent finally erupted in widespread public protests. The government responded with a massive military crackdown, prompting more than 1,000 Montagnards to flee to neighboring Cambodia.

Four months ago, Human Rights Watch issued a scathing, 194-page report documenting Vietnamese repression of the Montagnards, including police torture, destruction of churches and forcible repatriation of refugees. In a June interview in Phnom Penh, a 16-year-old Montagnard girl described to the Herald how she and several family members walked for 15 days to escape Vietnam, where their land had been confiscated and they were punished for being evangelical Protestants.

"Now it's very difficult for my people," said the girl, who spoke anonymously because of fear of reprisal against relatives still living in Vietnam. "A lot of people are in prison and many people are missing . . . My family life is very dangerous."

After a diplomatic dustup, the girl and 900 other Montagnard refugees were resettled in North Carolina in June with the help of the State Department, the United Nations, STMP and other humanitarian groups.

And in a remarkable mea culpa, the Vietnamese government admitted that same month that its social, religious and economic policies were largely to blame for the unrest in the Central Highlands.

Tai Le expressed disappointment that Kerry had not spoken out against the harsh Vietnamese treatment of the Montagnards. "I've been very surprised and very disappointed. We hope that John Kerry would stick up for another former ally on behalf of reason and conscience," he said.

Pham said the upcoming protests, which he expects will draw hundreds of demonstrators, are not designed to embarrass Kerry.

"We hope he won't lose any face," said Pham. "We are not protesting John Kerry; we are not anti-John Kerry. We just try to urge him to let the bill be debated in September, when Congress is back in session. Let democracy work. That's what this country is all about."

Caption: POLITICAL CONFLICT: Vietnamese immigrants dislike Sen. John F. Kerry's stance toward Vietnam's government. HERALD FILE PHOTO

Caption: STANDING FIRM: Nam Van Pham, Tien Tram and Tai Le, from left, are among the Vietnamese veterans hwo plan a two-day hunger strike to protest Sen. John Kerry's lack of support for a bill to link foreign aid to Hanoi's human-rights performance. STAFF PHOTO BY PATRICK WHITTEMORE

Caption: DEVESTATION OF WAR: A Pulitzer Prize-winning photo by David Kennerly illustrates the damage war inflicted on Vietnam, above. UPI FILE PHOTO

Graphic: (Map of Southeast Asia including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand). STAFF GRAPHIC

COPYRIGHT 2002 Boston Herald

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