Vietnam Views

by John Harlow

"The Students of South Vietnam want a civilian government. But they can't agree on the form this government should take." This is the opinion of Mr. Brian Shaw, a member of an International Student Conference (ISC) research team that recently visited South Vietnam.

The ISC team spent twelve days in Vietnam investigating the attitudes of students to the war, and assessing their involvement in the war.

Mr. Shaw told me the South Vietnamese students are unable to decide what role, if any the military should be allowed to play in a civilian government. There are also disagreements between Buddhist and Catholic students over the role that should be played by their respective refigious groups in a civilian government.

I asked Mr. Shaw what he thought of Marshal Ky's plans to hold elections.

"It would be an experience for South Vietnam to have a democratic election, but it would not be a practical one," he said. The idea of a universal franchise has little relevance to the current situation in Vietnam. Although a comparatively small percentage of the population live in Vietcong-held territory, the Vietcong still hold a sufficiently large area to disrupt the running of an election.

The research team originally planned to visit the university cities of Hue and Dalat. But the wave of civil disturbances that swept South Vietnam following the dismissal of General Thi from the ruling military junta resulted in the grounding of all civilian aircraft. This frustrated the team's attempts to visit other universities since it is impossible to move far beyond Saigon other than by air. But they did meet a few students who had just come to Saigon from Hue and Dalat.

I asked Mr. Shaw if he thought students had received any directives from the Buddhists on how, when and where they should demonstrate.

"Definitely yes." he said. "Regular student meetings in Saigon to plan strategy for demonstrations are always attended by Thich Thien Minh (a key Buddhist leader). And the Student Union in Hue receives 96 per' cent of its finances from the Buddhist Pagoda there."

In reply to a question on Vietnamese attitudes towards New Zealand troops in Vietnam Mr. Shaw suggested the New Zealanders are in Vietnam in such small numbers that most Vietnamese are not even aware of their presence there.