Social and Pastoral BulletinNo. 86Oct. 15, 1998
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It took me a lot of energy to plan and execute my first visit to Vietnam
back in January 1991. Since then I go to Vietnam every year and my last
visit in August was almost a routine one. When people hear about me going
to Vietnam tend to think that it is something non-enjoyable and painful.
I met an official of the Japanese Embassy in Hanoi three years ago and
his first greeting was: Taihen desune. Gokuroosama desu. (It comes to this: I feel sympathy with you for spending some weeks here in such difficult conditions.) To tell the truth, I always enjoy my stay in Vietnam where I learn so many
new things every time I go there. My main handicap is that I do not know
the Vietnamese language, but I manage to get along with Japanese or English
translators and from time to time even speaking in French. The small group of people with whom I usually go have clear goals as a small
organization assisting programs for poor communities there, and we usually
meet many people like medical doctors, local government officials, citizen
volunteer groups, Catholic church personnel, and literally hundreds of
ordinary people especially in the rural areas. |
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Television and newspapers are quite wide-spread in Vietnam now. Although
I arrived in Vietnam, this time, after the French Soccer World Cup, soccer
games were televised all day long. Mini-hotels have now cable television
systems, not available to ordinary people, but there was practically nothing
else but sport programs. They often show Chinese and Indian films with
an over-presence of military and police personnel. The same is true of
local Vietnamese news programs and plays. It was a surprise to watch sometimes
even NHK news in Japanese As a matter of fact, all newspapers and mass
media are run by the State, or by the communist party. There is a popular
newspaper, Cong an, published by the Vietnamese police. Private organizations do not have
any access whatsoever to means of public information. During my stay in Ho Chi Minh city 5 years ago, a journalist, good friend
of mine, brought me once a well-read Vietnamese newspaper (SAIGON giai
phong). |
One of the main articles in its front page (22-9-1993) attacked the Catholic
Bishop Huynh Van Nghi of Phan Thiet, who had been nominated bishop of the
diocese of Ho Chi Minh city. The article criticized the Catholic Church
and the Vatican for interfering in Vietnam without consulting the government
in the appointment of the bishop. This official opposition continued till
a new bishop was finally appointed this year. Of course, neither Bishop
Huynh Van Nghi nor the Catholic Church ever had an opportunity to react
in public. The same situation remains and things have not changed. I was keen to know how people in rural areas get information about Vietnamese
issues or global problems, what newspapers they usually read. TV sets are
still rare in villages and people gather around them to watch sports, films
and news programs, but there are no newspapers in the villages. In rural
areas the use of loud speakers by local officials is still common, and
in places where the Catholic church has a stronghold, priests are the unique
sources of information. |
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Japanese people tend to think that Vietnam is doing well economically, and
that the Vietnamese economy is healthier than that in most Asian countries,
but this is due to the influence of a controlled mass media. One clear
thing I found in Vietnam is that people do not trust public opinion and
the given information any more, and when it comes to important issues they
look for the true facts themselves. Since this is not easily done many
remain skeptical. Rural areas, where over 70 per cent of the population lives, provide a quite
different picture about reality than the one the main large cities present.
In the country-side living conditions are very hard, and there is a lack
of many basic needs, like primary education, health, water, vital roads
and transportation. Basic infrastructures are still very outdated. Although
farmers work hard they have to face so many structural problems that it
is difficult to notice real development there. |
On top of that, natural disasters like floods, drought or typhoons are
common in many parts of Vietnam, and farmers themselves have usually to
find their own solution without any possibility of relying on outside assistance.
Nevertheless, as different from urban centers, visitors can not see beggars
or street children, drug addicts and homeless there in spite of so much
existing hardship in rural life. The amazing fact is that people look happy
to the outsiders as if they live with joy in an environment I like to call
of natural happiness. Every year half of the members of our group visiting Vietnam change and
the new members are always deeply impressed by the joyfulness of the people
and the vitality Vietnamese children have. Most of the dynamic economic activities take place within the informal Vietnamese
sector that is spread all over the nation. An example would be the market
places which are the ordinary sites, not only of economic activity, but
also the natural environment for getting and transmitting all kinds of
information. |
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There is where people naturally interrelate and exchange their goods .
The "morning market" is at the same time, everywhere, the suitable
site for reliable or gossip information about local and national events.
It can be rightly said that the majority of the population, certainly in
the rural regions, are somehow linked as producers, sellers or buyers in
the daily markets. This is the traditional Vietnamese business way, since
the old times when big shops, refrigerators and transportation means were
non-existent. But even now that electricity is available, refrigerators
are still a luxury. I know of an old Vietnamese lady who came to Japan
to visit her family's daughter but she was unable to remain living in Tokyo
even for a few weeks, because she could not eat vegetables and food always
neatly kept cool inside the refrigerator of her daughter's home. She was
homesick and had to go back to Vietnam. Another example would be the bicycle and motor bike industry. The Japanese
Honda motor bike is, by far, the ordinary means of transportation for the
Vietnamese people, but they are, in fact, made in Thailand or in Singapore.
One can also see many motor bikes made in Russia or in Eastern European
countries. A Vietnam without Honda motor bikes can not even be imagined. |
Bicycles, even in the cities, are also the common transportation means
for ordinary people. They are produced in Vietnam, but especially in North
Vietnam many people use bicycles made in China which are of better quality.
This is most probably the most valuable economic activity in Vietnam now.
The needs of the people are met and this has provided a network web of
thousands of side business that give employment and needed income to, most
probably, hundreds of thousands of people in Vietnam now. People usually measure the Vietnamese growth of economic development by
new construction building, increase in the number of cars, road building
and new factories constructed. In other words, this is practically linked
to the increase in foreign investment. The doi moi policies are usually taken as the starting point in Vietnam for the industrialtake off . Cities like Ho Chi Minh, and to some respect even Hanoi, show for the
last 8 years visible economic development. The industrial zone outside
of Ho Chi Minh on the way to Thu Duc, where the construction of new factories
is going on, is a sign of that. But, how much of that development affects
in good ways (jobs, salaries, etc.) the ordinary people is still doubtful. |
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For instance, the development of the tourist industry has been a long dream
and as a result many new hotels of all sizes are still been built, but
many are empty all year long. In August, a good tourist season, our group
of 7 people staying in a mini hotel with a capacity for about 30 beds were
practically the only guests. Foreign investment started to enter Vietnam around 1988 and reached its
peak of about 1,000 million dollars in 1994, but it slowed sharply down
in 1996, and it dropped to half during the present year. But since the
political role is always the priority in Vietnam information about economic
or industrial growth is, often, filtered by political motives and it is
difficult to get true and reliable facts. A point in case is the drilling
of oil in the South China sea with large capital investment from Japan.
There has often been a clash of contradictory information regarding the
possibilities of finding profitable oil deposits. Since much of foreign
investment in Vietnam comes, seemingly, from middle and small-size enterprises
there is an atmosphere of business precaution with regard to industrial
involvement there. Groups of Japanese business have in the past voiced
this clearly. |
University students of economics in Hanoi were telling me 3 years ago that
they were only taught economic theories, without concrete figures, in their
University, but, then, one day I showed them the official national budget
as it had just appeared in one of the Newspapers, approved by the Congress.
Their reaction was that this was the first time that such figures were
published. |
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Vietnam is a young country with 75 million people, of which over 60% are
under 25. These young people were born under the new system and their possibilities
and capabilities have been much reduced because of lack of a good education
suitable to the changes the doi moi policies try to achieve. Vietnam has also entered the era of globalization
and internationalization but lags basically behind. Education is a vital
factor that has not been given enough attention not even in the urban centers.
There are some studies done by international institutions like the World
bank or the Asian Development bank which corroborate this. Visiting rural areas for the last 7 years one can observe the big educational
needs there and the lack of basic facilities even for primary education,
not to speak of secondary. Of course, University level is totally out of
reach. Poverty and the increase in the number of children are some of the
main causes. Speaking from the Japanese experience, which is valid for
the point I want to make here, education should not be the monopoly of
the State. There are many private organizations well prepared and able
to run educational institutions and citizens should have the free option
to select the education they want to provide to their children; young people
should also have a free choice for education. Of course, this is impossible
in Vietnam now and people can not say this openly. Nevertheless, the educational
needs are so obvious that symbolic changes are occurring now. |
Many villages are, practically, without classrooms. Education is in the
hands of the peoples` committees, which, for one reason or another, are
often unable to solve the problem. In many instances there are people linked
to church organizations, for instance, who find ways to build classrooms
for the children and are able to provide teachers, but this is boycotted
by the committees. My impression is that this is not an exception. Churches and other private groups are running "charity classes",
as they are called, where children get practically all primary education,
but in order for those children to proceed to secondary school they are
obliged to pass official examinations. One of the main social scandals publically exposed in Japan these days is
what we call Amakudari, in other words, the appointment of former government officials to a responsible
position in a private company. This is the common practice in Vietnam,
at all levels. Presidents of companies are officially sent party members, directors of hospitals are people sent by the communist
party, welfare institutions with an expert as a director must have a different
director person sent by the party. Officially recorded ngos have to employ
some official person(s), who are to be paid by the ngos. The same is true
of other institutions like language schools, no matter the expertise of
the person officially sent. The country still has good human resources and possibilities of getting
more cooperation from the outside to try solve urgent educational and welfare
needs, but those resources can not be put to use and they will totally
get lost if there is no substantial change. |
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