A LETTER FROM TRAN LE HOÀNG STUDENT: DREAMING ABOUT VIETNAM AND USA BEING TWO GOOD FRIENDS & TRUSTWORTHY ALLIES

Dear Sir or Madam,
I am Trần Lê Hoàng (English name: Hector Tran), a young citizen of Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (VN). I would like to send you my best regard. As United States of America (USA) always appreciate the value of freedom, I would like to use this right to tell the truth about the people who are using this to fabricate my country and in turn, sabotage the friendly relationship between USA and Viet Nam
I am among the generation born after 1975, and just like so many other youths I love peace and feel grateful for the sacrifice of the previous generations (my grandfather was just one among many people who had sacrifice their youth for peace, freedom and independence of their motherland). And I see that I’m so lucky to live in a peaceful country without war, sorrow and division.

I am even luckier than many youngsters as I was born in 1996, I was born in the time when Viet Nam was on her way to renovate herself and join the world on the road to a better place for everyone. Hence, food stamps, cloth stamps... are something distant to me. That's why I respect my previous generations even more. They had fought 4 wars continuously (2 against invasion from France and USA, 2 against the interference of Cambodia and China) and they fought the fifth - the war against poverty and hunger when they have almost nothing at their disposal.

I am also aware of the responsibility of our generation in maintaining and protecting the peace, independence, unification and leaving them unharmed to the next one. Our generation wishes that Vietnam would develop and grow as an industrialized one, and gain the highly developmental values of humankind, especially from such a powerful and developed one as USA. I also admire and support the values of freedom, human rights, democracy at which all the men in the world aim. So I could not accept any distortion, defamation or insult to the honor of a man despite of any excuse or reason, especially ones aiming to harm my country

Radio Free Asia (RFA) is one of the few US agencies which still have hostile attitude toward Viet Nam. For years, the Vietnamese youth had kept their fingers cross and hope that one day, RFA would abandon this and co-operate for a better future for both countries. But that day would never come.
On February 19th 2014, RFA Vietnamese (after this line, if I only write 'RFA', please understand that I'm talking about FRA Vietnamese Sector) posted the article "Who did Mr. Tran Nhat Quang insult?" by Cánh Cò (Storks' Wings) This article contains insulting, slandering and offensive content about Mr. Trần Nhật Quang, a Vietnamese veteran and a citizen who condemned the No-U group – the people who took advantage of the Border War memorial activity to disrupt public order on Feb 16th 2014. This had caused huge uproar in the youngsters of Viet Nam and it is the very same article that led to the born of the movement 'Request to shut down the Vietnamese Sector of RFA'

Even though the RFA had deleted this post, but on the wordpress, the trace of this can still be found. And no apology has been seen for over 2 months. I wonder if this is the 'appropriate' behavior of a news agency of USA

Further than that, even when knowing that they had caused an uproar in Vietnamese youth, RFA (Vietnamese sector) continues to create false deliberately, even about their own ancestors. This can be read from "Giỗ tổ và những bi hài" (Feast of Ancestors and its joke) posted on 17/4/2014 According to our legend, Lạc Long Quân (the Great Father of Dragon) and Âu Cơ (the daughter of Yan Emperor) are the father and mother of all Vietnamese. They had to spit up due to difference in their nature (one lived under the sea and the other lived high up on the mountains) and hence, they divided their children (100 of them) and made the eldest child King (or Emperor, he and his successors are named Hung King - The powerful/the Great King). But the RFA 'writer' wrote the reason as "bất công, hoặc là thất vọng đối tác về tình cảm, tài chính, tài năng và tình dục" (unfairness, or disappointment about one's partner regarding to love, finance and sex) (?!)

Then, as there is no concept of fairness or finance, the writer discuss about the 'sex life' of 2 greatest figures in his/her own culture and belief (he/she must be a Vietnamese to know about this legend, and it was posted on RFA Vietnamese sector). More than that, the writer also made a statement that we (Vietnamese) have ' thừa nhận cái gọi là “gốc gác Trung Hoa” ' (acknowledged the Chinese origin) when the name 'Yan Emperor' is only mentioned once, in the legend, and further more, he hasn't been worshiped in Chinese (Han) culture. Only people living in area of Viet Nam today did this.

This, as I believe, is not difference from a humiliation against over 90 million people who have the blood of Dragon and God flowing in them. I believe that the RFA has denied their responsibility by saying this article 'doesn't reflect RFA's view'. However, why does a website written for Vietnamese have such a bizarre article? Again, I believe that the RFA has violated one rule of writing and press: Humiliation is not allowed

Another article on 22/4/2014 "Bệnh sởi, đường cong và những chiếc lưỡi không xương" (Measles, curves and tongues of liars) had a line "bẻ cong đường để tránh nhà quan" (bend the road to avoid officials' houses). However, it has been confirmed that the area the road was 'curved' into belongs to the MoD (Ministry of Defence) to save money for the government. I just want to express my doubt why RFA didn't mention this fact. Not only that, in the same article, "mạng người chẳng là gì, con trẻ chẳng đáng quan tâm nên họ giấu bớt số trẻ thiệt mạng" (lives mean nothing, children are not worthy of their (Ministry of Health) decrease it to lower the number of death children). I belive this is another liar. If this is true, why did Minister of Health go to investigate the unknown disease in Quang Ngai a few year earlier? More than that, in the 108 children died presumed because of measles, many of them were reported to died because of other diseases (pneumonia is the most common). Again, why didn't RFA mention this?

One last story on this letter, Ngô Nhật Đăng, so-called human right activist, has been report to have sexual harassment. He was reported to 'flirt' with numerous women with half-naked photos and 'words of adult' (let me call it shortly by that as technically, I haven't been an adult - I'm just 17 years and 7 months old). He even had abused (at least) one woman (she is a teacher - Oanh Bùi - and please notice that teachers are strongly respected in Vietnamese culture) with humiliating and swearing words. May I ask is this a violation to human right? If so, why was he allowed to 'present in front of the US Congress' about human right?

I write this letter not for fame, not for money. I write this letter because of my patriotism and my national pride. I also write this just because I've been dreaming about a future in which, Viet Nam and USA are 2 good friends and trustworthy allies.

I hope that you, the members of US Congress, will read this letter and judge it with heart and care. I sincerely hope that you will have a better picture about human right in Viet Nam, after hearing from both sides and hence, you can have a fair and good judgement
Best regards from a abroad student
Hoang
Tran Le Hoang