Socialist Republic of Vietnam

14 July 2004

In re: H. RES. 427; H. RES. 613; (S. RES. 343)

Dear Representative Christopher Smith,

I apologize for sending this to your office because I am not a member of your district. However, my purpose is to comment on two matters which reflect your membership on the Veteran’s Affairs Committee and the International Affairs Committee. The decisions made by these committees are far reaching and have great influence outside your district’s boundaries.

I am a combat veteran having served in Viet Nam 1968-1969. Thus, as a beneficiary of your work on behalf of veterans, I offer you my sincere gratitude. I hope your strong advocacy on behalf of veterans will continue.

My second point deals with your work in the international field. Specifically I wish to comment on your proposed resolutions chastising the Vietnamese government for human rights’ abuses.

I returned to Viet Nam for the first time in 1997 and have been returning every year since for a few months each year. While there, I try to enter the Viet culture as best I can. My friends are, for the great part, normal, everyday Vietnamese citizens. I usually base myself in Sai Gon/Ho Chi Minh City by renting an apartment and then I travel extensively within the country.

Initially I was agog at the different culture, language, food, etc. However, as the years have passed, I now find myself considering the Vietnamese a part of my family. And, I think, the feeling has been reciprocated by the Viet people. I was amazed at first but now I take the friendship and hospitality as a given.

I am a ‘tough’ old soldier and not given to shows of emotion but there are times when a tear almost comes to my eye when I think of the great damage that was done to Viet Nam during the war years.

The figures are staggering. Estimates of 3 million killed from a population of 30 million (1970). And an estimated 300,000 still MIA and unaccounted for.

I served honorably as a soldier but very early on during my tour I promised myself that I would do as little damage as possible to the Vietnamese people and their land. I felt I kept that promise as best I could given the circumstances I found myself in.

I am sorry for the lengthy ‘biography’ but I include for it is necessary to understand the next point I wish to make.

I have been greatly troubled, and bewildered, by annual attempts to ‘punish’ Viet Nam for what is termed ‘abuses of human rights’. Usually, religious freedom is an integral part of these accusations.

I have no special knowledge or information other than my experience and that which I have seen with my own eyes. And, after seven years of unhindered travel within Viet Nam, I can say that I have seen absolutely no government hindrance of any religious belief.

And Viet Nam, as our own country, has a plethora of beliefs.

In Sai Gon, I travel daily on a main thoroughfare and I am amazed at the number and variety of religious establishments that I see.

Nguyen Van Troi is the street I live on and travel so regularly. Within the space of about one mile (!) I have noticed and have seen frequented by worshippers a Baptist Church, numerous Pagodas, a huge Catholic Cathedral and even a small Mosque. All have members in numbers and all seem to be frequented by whomever so chooses.

In my many conversations with Viets in the cities, villages and hamlets throughout the country, I have never once heard the question of religion brought up unless it is I inquiring about different aspects of those religions. The practice of religious beliefs seems to be a strictly personal choice.

Viet Nam, both within the government as well as within the populace, seems to abide by a strict separation of state and religion. I cannot describe it in any other manner. From my vantage, admittedly of a somewhat limited nature, my observation is that Viets can practice religion wherever, whenever or however they choose.

I have studied the constitution and laws of Viet Nam and the basic human rights that we, as Americans, hold so dear are codified within these laws and were individually enunciated beginning with Ho Chi Minh’s Declaration of Independence on 2 September 1945.

I realize that we have received reports of disturbances in the Central Highlands where the ethnic tribes ( I believe 54 in number) exist. I have travelled to many of these areas including Dac Lac, Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Binh Phuoc Provinces. In the last mentioned there is a sizable ethnic population of S’Tieng people.

In 2001, I financed and helped to construct a cultural house/library/community center in the district of Bu Dang where the S’Tieng comprises roughly 25% to 33% of the population.

In these areas I have had unfettered access to contact with these peoples and I have never, not once, heard any indication or mention of a problem with religious belief. Most of the ethnic peoples practice a form of animism.

As I mentioned I have no special knowledge or intelligence but I can make an educated guess concerning the very sporadic and limited in scope problems in the Highlands of Viet Nam.

I strongly believe the Vietnamese government is defending the tenets of their Constitution and, in truth, their’homeland’ if there is an attempt to foment disturbances of civil order within their territory.

There is a group based in the US that is known by the acronym of FULRO ( see Montagnard Foundation & Transnational Radical Party) and it seems to be calling for some sort of separation of the ethnic peoples from the body politic of Viet Nam. A leader of this group, a Ksor Kok, is actually calling for a state within the boundaries of the sovereign nation of Viet Nam! He is espousing such to be called the ‘Degar State’.

If my feelings are correct then I think you would agree that, if such were to happen within our own borders, we would defend the sanctity of our ‘homeland’ and our Constitution. I feel strongly that the ‘abuse of human rights’ issue is truly not the issue.

The issue is one of national sovereignty and adherence to the written law of the Vietnamese people.

I beseech you, Sir, to rethink the ramifications of these periodic proposals aimed at Viet Nam’s conduct of its internal affairs. I feel certain that this is not your intention but these accusations greatly wound the Vietnamese people and they greatly wound me.

It is ironic in some ways that after such a horrible introduction to Viet Nam as a soldier wielding a weapon, I now consider the Vietnamese a part of my family and I know I will never consciously do anything to harm their independence.

The wars cost Viet Nam greatly in personal suffering and loss and in the physical toll it took on their land. However, I think the greater damage was done to our own nation in a psychological sense.

The Vietnamese people are extremely proud of their nation and their culture. Just as we are of ours! I believe they yearn for a ‘true’ friendship with the US. A friendship based on mutual respect. And I yearn for the day my government will offer that ‘true’ hand of friendship to the Vietnamese people. I feel I could guarantee that we would have a strong, friendly and, equal, ally.

And I am certain if such were to take place, it would go a long way towards erasing that national ‘PTSD’ that we all still suffer from.

Again, I feel I must apologize for this letter and its length but it is a matter that weighs upon me a great deal.

Sincerely,

William J. Kelly Jr.

PO Box 307; Stockholm, NJ 07460; 973-209-2612; E: bilikelly@hotmail.com

PS: I have included some photos and clippings that might be of interest. If you or any member of your staff would care to discuss anything that I have mentioned, I would be honored to meet with whomever, whenever, wherever