Former NVA colonel speaks out on Black April Anniversary

Bui Tin was a colonel and editor for North Vietnam who later defected and became an opponent of the communist regime. His presence at Independence Palace (later renamed "Reunification Hall" by the communists) on 4-30-75 was in order to accept South Vietnam's surrender. He now lives in France.

Below is an English translation of an article he wrote to DCVOnline, a Vietnamese language pro-democracy website, to state his views on the anniversary of April 30, on which date in 1975 the communists took Saigon.

I am glad that the freerepublic can be one of the first sites this English translation can be posted to.. and hope that freedom loving people here will help circulate it around the net.

33 Years have passed. In my view, all Vietnamese, including communists, must consider carefully the truths of the past, separated by this span of time, and rectify a dangerous misunderstanding that has been imposed upon the people by communist leaders. They have forced the people to adopt the view that the aggression of North Vietnamese forces against South Vietnam from 1960 to 1975 was justified in order to liberate South Vietnam and unite the country, and that April 30th (1975) was a glorious victory.

Today I am ready to raise my voice and let all of the people hear clearly: Our nation Vietnam was not liberated after 4-30-75, nor was it unified. On April 30th the Communist Party won, but all of the people lost, to be ruled from that point on by a one-party dictatorship.

The Communist Party then implemented a policy of dominant occupation in the South, arresting millions of people and seizing property, discarding the South Vietnam National Front for Liberation, and brought about the tragic scene of millions of boat people fleeing the country. Is this liberation? Is this unification?

After 4-30-1975, the Communist Party monopolized authority, not allowing freedom of assembly, the press, or elections. Is this what is called national liberation? Is this freedom?

And today the party is rich, filthy rich. And the people are poor, dirt poor. What kind of unification is this? What kind of development? Vietnam is an "independent" nation yet forced to sign unfair treaties giving up thousands of square kilometers of its lands and sea territories, and islands, and losing vast amounts of natural resources and marine products. And when foreigners want their torch in Vietnam, the foreigners are the ones who decide the time and place. Their minister for foreign affairs even comes to our capital to issue orders to ours, and tells our prime minister and chairman of the National Assembly to protect the torch thoroughly and let the foreigners' armed security personnel participate in the suppression of any citizens who might be engaged in peaceful demonstrations. So.. we must ask in what way is this country actually independent? What actual authority.. what actual pride remains with the nation? Genuine self-respecting Vietnamese could not act in such a manner!

This is what every Vietnamese living in or outside of Vietnam must consider carefully on this year's anniversary of 4-30.

I hope that the young people in Vietnam will cultivate independent thinking and the ability to reflect with their own alert minds, and read the essay by famed French philosopher Jean - François Revel entitled "The Hijacking of Patriotism". This poignant essay highlights the brutal reality of how Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Party used the patriotic sentiment of the Vietnamese people to further the objectives of the international communists. The French word "détournement" can mean broadly to seize or hijack that which belongs to someone else and use it for one's own purposes.

After reading Revel's essay I pondered over the meaning of this word and saw how we have been robbed, robbed of something priceless. Our youth so full of idealism and determination, all these years have been tricked, robbed, and lured away, so that only at the end of their lives do they finally realize, regret, and feel pity for those who remain asleep!

When a someone's car, expensive watch, or wedding ring is stolen, they naturally will be very distressed over the loss for some time. So many people who have been fooled by the communists all their lives, and in many cases even lost their lives can experience a similar feeling. Millions upon millions of ourpeople have been duped by trickery of enormous proportions for half a century. We must help each other to see, to regret, and once again demand the right all people have to live free, and begin a struggle to achieve true independence and unification for our homeland.

This April 30th I feel quite at ease and happy. I have made many friends since becoming a freelance journalist these 18 years. Friends in Vietnam as well as outside, elderly friends as well as young friends. I do not write under the orders or review of anyone, and instead write solely according to my own conscience and intellect, revering no one and nothing other than the truth. Freedom at this age makes life truly worth living, and I am content and happy regardless of material difficulties.

I've let go of vain laurels, ephemeral titles, and ironic medals, and feel ashamed that I was once so proud about having reached Independence Palace so soon on that afternoon of April 30th. So foolish and mistaken! What was it for? To bring the country to its current predicament! Independence? No! Sovereignty? No! In every aspect Vietnam is below 100 other nations!

This 30th day of April, from the bottom of my heart I just have one appeal to make upon my friends and compatriots: Cherish patriotism and love the people of your country. And if you find that your patriotic feelings are being hijacked to serve dark and suspicious purposes, remove yourself from such an audacious ploy and raise your voice to expose it!

Make sure to recover completely your patriotism and love for your people so that alongside other Vietnamese who have awakened you may fight for a Vietnamese homeland that is truly independent, truly free, and grounded in the history of the nation and era.

Nice article on Bui Tin. I've bookmarked the page. Having lived in both "Little Saigon" in San Jose and Garden Grove I've heard so many stories of the escape before and after the fall...what a tragedy. Vietnam collapse one month prior to my HS graduation. had to wait until my 18th B-day to join the military....let not our Vietnam vets and the South Vietnamese allies be forgotten.

I think that all thinking persons need to go back to that time in 1975 prior and realize that the U.S. Congress is solely responsible for the collapse of the S. Vietnam govt.

And, what is truly tradgic is that many of those Congress critters who voted to defund S. Vietnam are still in Congress, actin so pompous and self-rightous.

I constantly remind Democrats who lived during that time that these Congress critters as well as themselves have the blood of 2.5 million Southeast Asians on their voting hands.

Even some of the NVC have gotten what some in our own nation will never get. Communism is a despicable form of governance.

Who on the left takes Vietnam to task for it despicable leadership these days? And who on the ‘right’ fought to get normalized relations with it over the interests of our own MIAs?

There’s plenty of shame to go around on the matter of Vietnam.

So much shame, so little ownership.

South Vietnam did not help the cause either. South Vietnam was a typical post WWII, pre Asian tiger nation, rifted with cliches and corruption. Pay from Saigon would go to the corp commanders, who help themselves with a cut, then the division commanders took their cut, so on and so on, and by the time the Vietmanese soldier got his pay it was less than half of what was promised. This was one of the reasons why South Vietmanese units hesitated to go into combat unless absolutely necessary because combat losses means less payroll/loot for the senior Vietmanese commanders. US soldiers see this hesitancy of South Vietmanese units to fight and take the initiative and wonder why they should die for a country whose soldiers and leaders are not willing to fight. Note - there were elite South Vietmanese units that did very well in combat, but the average South Vietmanese forces were not so good. One thing good about the Iraqi army is we controlled the pay (a valuable lesson we learned from Vietnam) and since it is a volunteer force, one can tell that the people of Iraq still support their government because there is no shortage of recruits. The South Vietmanese army was conscription. Near the end of the war, the average South Vietnmanese hid their high school grads from the army recruiters who drop by the village on graduation day to impress the young men into service. When that happened it was a bad sign for the South Vietmanese government. The US Congress drove the nail into an already rotten South Vietmanese government and military.

Be that it may. As far as corruption is concerned, there was and still is plenty in our own Congress. As far as conscription is concerned, I was a draftee as well.

But all of what you say is without a doubt true, but the S. Viets had been doing the bulk of the fighting for the previous two years prior to the debacle. They had repulsed the North once.

But the last time, the North were outfitted with the best the Chinese had to offer and the South just ran out of money, fuel, bullets, equipment, parts and were, of course, overrun.

Perhaps if the topic of this letter was democracy per se, more information would be needed than just... his objections to one-party rule, suppression of the press, assembly, etc, etc...

But the main intent of this letter appears to be: To reach out to Vietnamese in Vietnam and around the world at a time when Vietnam’s sovereignty and even many territories are falling into the grasp of China... and since all Vietnamese are upset by this situation, even many who are pro-communist, Bui Tin is using the opportunity to get their attention to how the communists have not only suppressed the people of Vietnam, but betrayed them as well. And all this was possible by a form of brainwashing and manipulation called “hijacking patriotism”, which Bui Tin hopes Vietnamese will never fall for again.

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