Sessions at the Vietnamese National University

Part I: Vietnamese History
By Mumbi Munene
Photos by Lim Fei Xiang

On the third day of the Saigon study trip we visited the Vietnamese National University for two informative lectures; one on the history of the Vietnam War, and another on the current economic state of Vietnam. Professor Vo Van Sen gave the first lecture and explained the evolution of the Vietnam War while answering important questions such as why Vietnam rejects some of the official names that majority of the Western world uses to identify the war, whether the war could have been avoided, and how Vietnam won a war over such a powerful aggressor.  The second lecture was led by Dr. Tran Dinh Lam and explained the economic situation of modern day Vietnam, placing particular emphasis on the importance of education for economic development.    

Professor Vo Van Sen, President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University receiving a token of appreciation from Cheah Wui Jia. 

Professor Vo Van Sen opened the lecture by giving alternative names that the Vietnamese use to refer to the war. In Vietnam the war is referred to as “the resistance war against America for national salvation” because alternative names such as “the Vietnamese War” that were coined by the United States, allude to a civil war rather than an international conflict. Professor Vo Van Sen then explained differing views held by historians about whether the war could have been avoided or not. Those who hold the view that the war could have been avoided argue that at the end of World War Two, Ho Chi Minh sent numerous letters to Truman attempting to develop diplomatic ties but the Western world was unwilling to recognize Vietnam as an independent state. Historians who argue that the war was unavoidable explain that the end of World War Two represented the beginning of a bipolar world order, and because Vietnam was a socialist republic the two countries were bound to experience conflict.

While the Western world often views the Vietnam War as a seventeen year old conflict, Professor Vo Van Sen explained that in Vietnam the war is considered a twenty one year old conflict that begun in 1954 with the Geneva Accords removing the French from Indochina, and ended in 1975 with America’s attempts to Vietnamize the war. Professor Vo Van Sen described the Vietnam War as developing through various points of escalation that were linked to the political government system that was in place in the United States. He divided the war into five stages and linked each stage of the war to the political system in the United States. The first stage was the Eisenhower’s strategy that attempted to develop a puppet government in southern Vietnam, the second phase was the special war implemented by the Democratic government of President Kennedy, the third phase was the Local War implemented by the Democratic government of President Johnson. The fourth and fifth phases of the war were implemented by President Nixon and President Gerald Ford who saw Vietnam claim victory of the war by “Vietnamizing” the conflict.

A fascinating segment of Dr Vo Van Sen’s lecture presented an algebraic formula that explained how and why Vietnam managed to defeat the more powerful and more developed American army. The formula is “(2,2,3,3, 3,3,2,x…)”; it symbolizes two local uprisings- the “Two Feet Three Arrows” policy, the three regions of simultaneous Vietnamese attacks,  the three different Vietnamese armies, the three fronts of attack and lastly the combination of a military offensive and an uprising. Dr. Vo Van Sen’s lecture presented the Vietnam War from a fresh perspective by revealing how the Vietnamese themselves view the Vietnam War. 

Part 2: Vietnam in the International Economy
By Lochna Menon
Photographs by Lim Fei Xiang

After a short coffee break, Dr. Tran Dinh Lam, Director of the Centre for Vietnamese and Southeast Asian Studies, resumed the lecture, this time focusing on the future prospects of Vietnam’s economy. Since independence, Vietnam has been more than ready to fully participate in the international economic world order. Dr. Tran began his introduction by stating the significance of economic reforms: their necessity is indisputable because there are issues between economic theory and planning, and the real lived experiences of the Vietnamese people. In the immediate post-independence years, Vietnam’s economy was experiencing an economic downturn; the economic plan was inconsistent with the real economic situation in South Vietnam, as most of the economic policies of the time were based on North Vietnam’s allocation and distribution of resources. Once the problem had been identified, the government was quick to rectify the problem. However, other issues and ineffective government policies still persist.

Economic policies aside, Dr. Tran stressed that international relations between Vietnam and other countries, especially their bilateral relations with the US, was and is still very important in order to build up Vietnam’s national wealth and guarantee national defense and security. A powerful player in the global world such as the US can only be beneficial to Vietnam. This echoes a principle in liberal theory where increased trade between countries can raise the costs of war, especially in view of the history between the two nations. Dr. Tran believes that the future of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people depends on how well Vietnam is able to integrate their economy into the global international economy.

Dr.Yeoh poses a question to the speaker as fellow traveller, Sabrina looks on.

Dr. Tran strongly advocates change, and explained that Vietnam needed to change its mindset to accept new conditions for trade, and relinquish their communist principles and open its doors  to the world. He believes that education can be used as means to achieve this goal. He supported the Vietnamese government’s move to expand the privatisation to attract foreign investment. He drew parallels between Vietnam and other developing economic giants such as Singapore, Korea, Japan and Malaysia, comparing and finding that Vietnam can benefit from implementing similar policies.

He identified three crucial issues that needs to be tackled as soon as possible to secure continued progress, thereby allowing Vietnam to take its place as a key player in the international scene. First and foremost, a skilled workforce needs to be built up by improving the quality of education. Second came infrastructure, but he expanded the term to include not only roads and public transport but also education facilities. The third issue he raised was bureaucracy in state-owned institutions, which is prevalent in Vietnam - seeing that it is a communist country. Dr. Tran believed that once these issues are addressed, and their solutions prescribed, Vietnam will experience a major boost to the economy. He sees bureaucracy as the root cause of the relatively high rent prices on housing and corporate offices that make Vietnam less competitive in Southeast Asia as other countries offer considerably lower rates.

When asked if the People’s Republic of China poses a threat, rival to Vietnam in terms of cheap labour resource, Dr. Tran replied that China has been very supportive of Vietnam during the war years. But he also stated that the Chinese are very stubborn when it comes to adapting to change - not only in physical economic policy but in terms of their mindset, which he believes is the more important of the two. He feels that the Vietnamese people will be able to adapt better to the needs and wants of the international economy and all its actors.

Once again, he stressed that education is very important. He holds the view that education is key in reducing the income disparity between the rich and the poor, of which Vietnam’s Gini-coeffcient stands at 0.43 (Typically, 0.4 reflects severe inequal distribution of income). Dr. Tran strongly feels that as Vietnam emerges as a skilled pool of workers with the advancement in education, the gap will decreasing and eventually diminish. This is essential if the Vietnamese people  are to be truly freed of poverty.

Dr. Tran concluding his lecture with a charming smile and kind words of appreciation.

On that hopeful and inspirational note, the session reached its conclusion. Dr. Tran thanked us with a most friendly and gracious smile, encouraging us travelers to voice out our views and opinions. Dr. Yeoh, as representative of Monash Malaysia, presented some gifts as a token of appreciation for the warmest welcome we have received yet.

We heartily thank Dr. Tran for welcoming us with open arms, going so far as to help procure visa permissions for two of our travelers. We were all touched by this gesture of kindness and we hope to see Dr. Tran on Cultural Night, so that we can properly convey our gratitude and appreciation to our Vietnamese host.

Mumbi Munene is pursuing an Undergraduate Degree in International Studies and Economics. She is in Malaysia as an exchange student from the Monash South Africa campus, and is keen to grab all opportunities to travel within and beyond Malaysia

LochnaMenon is majoring International Studies and Writing. An independent woman who loves the idea of a birds’ view of the world, she is very curious - with a mission to inspire and be inspired.