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Liberated Vietnam no threat

John: Welcome back to Wellington. Now I understand that you are embarking on a tour around New Zealand. Why are you doing this?

Diem: As you know, the Vietnamese students from various centres are confused and in a state of shock. This is the first time they have ever been able to speak freely or to make decision by themselves without being suppressed by the Thieu regime clique and embassy. That's why I will be aiming at Vietnamese students who are still in a state of shock and I want to tell them that I will make myself an example by going first. The second thing is that I want to assure them that there will be no violent reprisals against any Vietnamese students returning home because I come from the same economic background as them. The third reason is that the New Zealand press has been so biassed against the new government and I want to give the NZ public a chance to find out that they will have to wait and see — to give the new government a chance to prove themselves in their working ability.

John: Are you confident that you can change the views of Vietnamese students?

Diem: I'm pretty sure. Imagine yourself being in the position of having to close your mouth and not being exposed to any other political views for 20 years of your life — I'm sure that they've had to totally, ignore anything political and [unclear: dow] they have to make a political decision and it is a very difficult task for them — for any people who have to do it for the first time in their lives. I hope that I can make an example of myself. If they find out that a person in a similar position is going home they make take into consideration my decision. I think by having more information and by seeing their friends going home I'm sure they will reconsider again the decision.

John: Why did you move from Victoria to Hamilton?

Dziem: The main reason for my moving out was because I was under continuous surveillance from the former South Vietnamese embassy staff, especially and Mr

Anyway, because of then surveillance, their watchful eyes upon me, I could not do anything, political here in Wellington.

Whenever I spoke anything in public forum held at Victoria University, or in SRC meetings, I was recorded, and they all knew whatever I was doing. I was the only one out of 30 Vietnamese students who was active in student affairs, and that is why they kept a very close eye on me.

John: Do you feel that New Zealand daily newspapers have presented a biassed viewpoint of the situation?

Diem: Absolutely. I don't know if they were telling lies or not, but the way they carried the news, the way they presented the news, gave everybody the impression that the 'commies' are bloodthirsty. If you care to look at any newspaper about the day of the takeover you will find that all the newspapers carried some kind of story about the threat of death to some of the Vietnamese people, which is totally untrue, as has been indicated by the recent reports from Saigon. There have been no bloodbaths or violent reprisals.

John: Do you think the Domino theory has any substance whatsoever?

Diem: I never did believe in the domino theory. The theory originated" in the Korean War, but in Vietnam the theory hasn't been working at all, in the sense that the Chinese or the Russians haven't been taking over Vietnam. I think the domino theory does work in the sense that the Vietnam victory is an indication that however small, however primitive the liberation forces are, a just cause can always come to victory, despite the length of time it takes.

John: Now the PRG have recently been recognised. What sort of steps do you think can be taken in the future to solidify diplomatic relations between New Zealand and the PRG?

Diem: New Zealand should play a more active part in helping us reconstruct the country, instead of trying to antagonise the new regime or destroy the reconstitution efforts of our people. The NZ goverment should pay for the damage they have done by participating in the war on Vietnam.

John: Now to get back to your personal case. Would you say that your family would be one of the richer ones in your society?

Diem: Yes.

John: What sort of place do you think they'll have in in the new society?

Diem: I'm sure that they will have a hard life because they will have to adjust to a new way of living. They cannot afford to have any more servants at home and they cannot afford to run a car, wasting peoples' fuel and money. That's why my biggest task when I return home will be to re-educate the people and to tell the people what Socialism is and what we can achieve under Socialism.

John: The morale of the NLF fighters never seemed to sag. Why?

Diem: That's one thing that I noticed: the more the Americans in Vietnam, the more the National Liberation Front could recruit troops. This is due to a trait in Vietnamese peoples who never believe in foreign intervention or foreign domination in our country.

John: Now you feel that you could do more for your country by going back there, as opposed to staying in NZ. Why?

Diem: As I said, the reason for my tour is to make the best use of my time: to make the NZ public aware of what is happening in Vietnam. After that, the only place where I feel I can help my country is to be inside there, to be with the people. I'm accepted by the people there and it will be a much better life for me.

Bruce: Is there anything you would like to add? Diem: For me, I've been totally against seeing the refugees getting out of the country. If they leave, they can never come back to their own country, and the Vietnamese people respect their land, their people, then villages very much. By making a decision to live in exile is just a temporary ego trip for many Vietnamese people who want a higher standard of living, who want more cars, more TV's. However, when they come to the Western societies, they will realise that those beautiful ivory towers are no longer suitable for them; the only place suitable for them is Vietnam and I've gone through this experience, after being in NZ for 414 years, after being in America for one year. I realize that there is nowhere more beautiful than Vietnam.

John: And my final question, the obvious one, I feel: what do you think of Vietnam's chances for the future?

Diem: I am too optimistic at the moment, so I feel that my statement can be overestimated. I can see that the Vietnamese people have been living under a communal system for a long time and their communal life is based on the land, on the village, and this is the great chance for them to come back to the normal, traditional life. I think that the western influence will not flourish so much as it did under the Thieu regime. This is the chance for Vietnam to become Vietnamised. On the social side, the families have been reunited after 20 years. Now I can see my uncle and aunties whom I haven't seen for 20 years, whom my father and mother have been missing. So I am sure that life in Vietnam will be much happier for not only people in the North, but also people in the South, and I look forward to the time when the people over the sea, living in the tents in Guam, can come nack and see how much happier they will be in Vietnam.

Bruce: You're very optimistic about Vietnam. Many countries in Africa, as you know, have gained their independence only to lose it again, or to have a new repressive regime at home instead of one from abroad Why are you so optimistic about Vietnam? What has page 7 been different in the approach to the liberation struggle in Vietnam?

Diem: For me, the formula for success of the NLF in the future is based on a couple of reasons. The first reason is that, as we know, the whole of the forces have been based on Socialism, have advocated Socialism as their solution for their way of governing the country. As you know, most of the Liberation Forces before had only one target — to overthrow the present regime, and never worked out their own alternative economic and political system. This has been avoided in the South by the National Liberation Front. The second thing is that people now are much more happy because they have been reunited with their families. I get the feeling that most of the poeple in South Vietnam have never been keen on fighting — all they want is a peaceful life and now that peace has come I am sure that they will not start fighting again. The Vietnamese don't like to fight — they fought because they were pushed — by Thieu and by other American puppets and by the Americans themselves.

Bruce: Even after the liberation of Saigon the New Zealand Government said that they did not know who was in power and that they were waiting for the situation to clarify before recognizing the new government All along our government evaded the question of recognising the PRG. They never understood what a peoples' government was. Because the PRG lacked a capital they felt it wasn't a government.

Diem: This is one of the fallacies put accross by the NZ Government policy. They always want to find a personality in any type of government. They don't realise that the NLF is a people's struggle, a people's army in which the prominent figures do not symbolise the whole army — it is the people themselves, the troops, who constitute the whole front. They symbolize the new goverment. That's why the NZ government cannot find a particular personality to symbolize the whole force.

John: Well. I don't think I have anything else. Thank you very much. Dziem, and the best of luck to you.