Election day

Stuffing the ballot box



The general elections are underway in Vietnam for the National Assembly and local People’s Councils. Some communes and districts are reporting 99.98 and 99.99 per cent voter turnout, participation that would make any freedom-loving democracy blush. One district—just south of Ho Chi Minh City, in fact—reported 100% voter turnout.

This probably has nothing to do with the fact that the police know where you live and who votes, but perhaps that’s splitting hairs.

Now, look at Uncle Ho again. I’ve seen a few photos of Ho in my time here, but not this particular one. It’s fairly common for the propaganda posters to be modified from real (or sure, imagined) photographs. But this poster is different. There aren’t that many photos of Ho outright smiling—looking benevolent, yes; baring his teeth, no. But as this autocratic regime ages; Ho magically becomes somehow younger (in spite of the white beard), a rictus grin across his face.

The crowd below him sprints off to the left (good!), clutching the tools of their trade and (invisible) voting papers. But it could be argued—in the semiotics of art—the throng hurries back to the past; not the future, which is to the right. Maybe this is why Ho sports such an uncomfortable smile. It’s the strained look of someone trying to cover for someone else, like your drunken date at a work party or when Aunt Minnie bellows expletives. Uncle Ho has long grasped what the Party has not.

“Elections?” says a Vietnamese friend. “We are not thirsty to vote. The politics is just nonsense.” During a luncheon date another friend echoes the first. “You have many choices, OK, you make the right decision. You have no choice, then….” he said shrugging.

The tribal Tribulation

“...there come a falling away first...”




Around the beginning of the month a very small news item appeared that would have been easy to overlook. A group of people in a remote northern province had been dispersed by the authorities. OK, no surprises there. This is Vietnam and assembly without permission is not allowed. But what struck me as odd was the government’s attempt to thoroughly discredit the group.

They were painted as a bunch of whack jobs hanging out in a field waiting for their maker to take them up to heaven.

Now, I like a good doomsday story as much as the next person. What’s not to love about the sky raining hell fire and serpents and people running amok in a blind panic? Just writing that makes me smile.

So, it’s probably a good thing that the foreign media was banned outright from the area and the domestic media on a choke chain because the believers turned out to be impoverished ethnic minority H’Mong protesting land rights. Vietnam replied by sending in helicopter gunships and firing on the protestors. Local advocacy groups say twenty-five were killed and an unknown number wounded.

The government denies the reports.

Beach birthday

A weekend in Mui Ne



The Vietnamese say a fish pond is like a bank where you can get money when needed. So it stands to reason that a beach is even better. We dipped into our bank of sun and sand and drew in great draughts of salt air and yes, fish. Mui Ne is one of the sunniest spots in the country and the weather didn’t disappoint. But this repository was also full of laughter; we had a storehouse of good-natured jibes and reminiscences about other days—maybe just like this—that had flown by. Each of us clutched our own net-sized IOUs to ourselves—make time; walk along a shoreline; fall asleep to the sound of surf—and promised we’d be back. For today, we are indeed rich.

Happy Birthday, Antoine.

Liberation Day

Celebrating the Reunification of Vietnam



It’s the 36th anniversary of the Liberation of Saigon (or Fall of Saigon, if you prefer) that ended the American War (or Vietnam War, again depending on your outlook). Visitors often think we’re being irreverent by calling the city Saigon, not Ho Chi Minh City, as it was renamed shortly after April 30, 1975 in honour of the revolutionary leader who ousted the French and the Japanese, and was first president of Northern Vietnam. Ho died before seeing his beloved Vietnam reunited, but he always knew the Vietnamese would triumph over any and all imperialist occupiers. But Saigon is the downtown proper and Saigon is what locals still call it.

Nonetheless, Liberation Day is a big holiday in a country with a shortage of public days off and May Day gets rolled into it as well.

But this is modern Vietnam after all, and the military parades and cheering crowds are best left for the big anniversaries. So, no tanks crashed into palace gates and no heavy artillery was dragged through the streets, like last year. This year Saigon put on a song and dance show in September 23 Park with—new this year—giant TV screens parked at different vantage points. We had glitter, a few flags, chorus lines, no pretend soldiers, lots of makeup, love duets, traditional country songs and jaunty men hoisting women to and fro. The seated audience was mostly seniors and very young families, while those who could made out on their motorbikes in the dark of the park ringing the stage.

The night’s entertainment (broadcast around the nation) was about keeping our faces firmly toward the future. Which is why I love this post's picture. Mr Rhinestone sings about the glories of progressive Vietnam (see the futuristic construction to his left), while a young village girl gallops barefoot in the monsoon rains. The stage lights capture the next performer waiting to go on stage—dressed in a conical hat and carrying a shoulder pole. Wealthy future: 1; still actually developing nation: 2. That’s OK, the music was ear-splitting so it was easy to lose the thread of any sort of analysis and just go with the noise.

Hawkers bellowed, whistled, honked and hollered their wares, although it’s always the same for a Vietnamese night in the park. Deep fried fish balls, steamed corn and ice cream. We were packed in, speakers pulsing and people loved it. Liberation Day this year was a thumping disco.

As my Vietnamese mates always remind me, “Loud makes us feel happy.”