[Vnbiz] Building the Vietnamese Intelligentsia--Intellectuals and Entrepreneurs [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Mon Jul 14 10:05:05 PDT 2008

Dear anh Hoanh & CACC,
It was such a long time I read a message from VNBiz properly. Please forgive
me for my poor time management skill.
I'm quite struck by this note, especially these: "I know there are practical
concerns for development stability.  But we all, both you and me, also know
that the nation needs to unleash its brainpower.  I know everything needs to
be within certain limits, but the limits you guys have now are ridiculous;
they simply choke the intellectual bloodlines, suffocate our intellectuals,
and make the nation so uncreative. This issue involves the brainpower, i.e.,
the current and the future, of the nation.  Please work on it seriously"
Just want to add a bit more to what was quoted above from my personal
experience. As a reporter, I remember being reminded that I was walking on
"the land mine" couples of time when I raised up discussion about some
social issues with my colleagues; and most frustrating of it all is being
hindered by some goverment minder about what should be told and what should
be kept silent. I mean, none of my problems have been so serious as ones to
my colleague in Tuoi Tre and Thanh Nien who had to face sentences but it
still does frustrating and intimidating. In a large scale, I can tell
state-own press have had intimidated and humiliated a great number of young
and old journalists.
Do you guys see it's ridiculous and unwise?
If the government wants to keep/show a beautiful face to the world, why
don't they hire professional PR service rather than having their hands on
the lips of journalists' mouths and especially, hanging handcuffs in front
of journalists' eyes for "if not" cases. And finally, give the public the
freedom of speech which means that anyone who wants to voice up could do it
wholeheartedly and at the same time, would be protected by laws properly
too.
In my final words, I think building a democrat society which contains a
complete free speech law is forming the base for intelligentsia to grow.
Without democracy, no-one dare to be intellectuals. It's time for us in the
country to demand for speech freedom.
Am I right?
Have a good day you all,
-nhung

2008/7/14 <QuangAnh.Nguyen at dfat.gov.au>:

> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
> Dear brother Hoanh,
>
> This is an interesting topic. Actually, in a similar view, there was
> another comprehensive research some years ago on "dân tộc tính" (people
> characteristics) in Vietnam. I read a part of the book and really impressed
> by a conclusion made by one professor (sorry I forgot his name). His view
> was:
> 1. Vietnam has no class of aristocrat;
> 2. Vietnam has no class of intellectuals (or ideologist)
> 3. Vietnam has no class of business people.
>
> I heard that this a little bit shocking view was appreciated by a large
> number of intellectuals. In short, the rational of those conclusion was:
>
> 1. Vietnam has no class of aristocrat: in history, it was rarely found an
> aristocrat family, continuously existed from dynasty to dynasty. The system
> of "cong - hau - ba - tu - nam" was a "learning" replication from Chinese
> system. Not many of those family continue to be aristocrat when the kings
> were changed. It was said that even in some contemporary "royal" family, the
> role of the later generation are not quite important as their ancestors.
>
> 2. Vietnam has no class of intellectuals (or ideologist): in a view that
> those people could impress or imprint their idea to the society or
> especially the emperors to rule the country. There is no man like Confusius
> (Khong tu) or Han Phi Tu, or Machivielli appeared during our history. Great
> politician like Nguyen Trai, or Nguyen Binh Khiem, did a perfect job from
> time to time, but more in a role of a senior official, not an ideaologist
> that provide strategic influences to their kings and making the policy for
> ruling the country. And it appeared that they were more successful in the
> role of a culturalist, or artist not ideologist.
>
> 3. Vietnam has no class of business people: In feudal time, business
> (thuong nhan) was not respected (the usual order of society classes was: si
> - nong - cong - thuong or intelectual -  farmer - mechanic - business
> people) and therefore, there was no name of businessmen were mentioned in
> history. They  found that there were a few businessmen successful in the
> period from end of 19th and early 20th century (before the liberation 1945).
> However, it appears that those people did not become a true force that could
> lead the whole economy at that time. It was understandable because most of
> the economic power was controlled by the colonial administration.
>
> Currently, this class become more and more remarkable since the "doi moi".
> However, it is only in this starting point. A large number of business
> people are actually leaders of state corporations, which are leading the
> economy with resources provided by the State.
>
> Have a nice week
> *----------------------------------------------*
> *Nguyen Quang ANH*
>
>
>
>
>   *"Tran Dinh Hoanh" <tdhoanh at gmail.com>*
> Sent by: vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com
>
> 13/07/2008 10:48 PM   Please respond to
> vnbiz at vietlinks.net
>
>    To
> vnbiz at vietlinks.net  cc
>   Subject
> Re: [Vnbiz] Building the Vietnamese Intelligentsia--Intellectuals and
> Entrepreneurs [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
>
>
>
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
> Dear CACC,
>
> The late historian Tran Khac Vien (I love him) said in his now famous
> quote: "Vietnam has intellectuals but no intelligentsia."  How do you think
> about that comment?
>
> Have a great day!
>
> Hoanh
>
> On Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 3:18 AM, <*Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov*<Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov>>
> wrote:
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
> Dear anh Hoanh,
> This is not the same as the call to build an intelligentsia as the old
> writings you read about that was produced in the first half of the 20th
> century in Vietnam.  More accurate, this is a call to build up a
> technocratic class with specific technical expertise in business.  This is
> simply a call to train more MBAs.
> Vietnam has always had intellectuals, with great historical ones such as
> Nguyen Truong To, Phan Chu Trinh, Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, Bui thi Xuan, Nguyen
> Trai, Nguyen Du, Doan thi Diem (not in any order).  But, not counting the
> "intelligentsia" in the feudal courts,  Vietnam only had a nascent such
> group that came together in the latter part of colonial French rule, but was
> pretty much wiped out by the time of Nhan Van - Giai Pham in the late
> 50's.  South Vietnam's two decades plus of existence hosted the renmants of
> the northern refugee intelligentsia along with its own home grown for a few
> short years of feverish, war-distorted development before being stunted
> domestically or scattered to the four corners of the globe in 1975.  Until
> "intelligentsia" no longer required the qualifier "patriotic" in Vietnam's
> political lingo, calls for the development of a local intelligentsia is
> either superfluous or insincer e.
>
> While the first steps toward building a private economy is to just let it
> grow, sustained market economy is no piece of cake.  An entire appropriated
> legal framework has to be developed and implementing regulations have to be
> put in place to handle not just the economic, but as attendant social and
> political changes.  Unbriddled capitalism inevitably leads to negative
> things like the "com tu" problem you've observed.  But, just to put things
> into perspective, if such a restaurant existed 20 years ago, even with the
> food and service quality of a state-owned establishment, passengers would
> have considered it a blessing.
>
> Building an intelligentsia is not the business of the government, unless
> you want a state-owned intelligensia.  If intellectuals need government's
> encouragement to think, speak and write freely, the nation is in deeper
> trouble than we can imagine.  The government should encourage/support
> education, protect the people's rights to think, speak and write, and not
> persecute intellectuals who do not agree.
>
> It is wrong to attribute lack of public discourse to culture, unless you
> chose to ignore traditional culture and focus only on contemporary culture
> which is heavily and directly influence by the regime.  There is little
> space for public discourse and only one voice addressing all major issues,
> that of the regime.
>
> Depending on where you are and what you say, speaking out in public may
> mean that your spouse will spend all her time and energy supporting
> you while you're on an extended involuntary vacation, and your friends will
> get numerous requests to meet with the local public secutity office.
> Cheers,
> HPP
>
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
> Washington DC
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-- 
*******************
Nguyen Hong Nhung
+44 750 454 5234
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